Seth
by book2wolf
Summary: This story is about a rockstar named Seth who gets taken by this organization simply called The Society. The reason being so is because he has a special ability.


.Chapter 1

Seth sat in the back of the shiny black limo. He was resting his hand on the hand rest beside him and drumming his fingers impatiently. Come on, couldn't the driver go any faster, he was going to be late for his concert already without this absurdly slow driver. The driver of course had to stay at the exact speed limit. He sighed, people thought limos were so cool, but in reality they were one of the slowest cars in the world. Seth looked at the driver, "Hey, can you go a little faster, I'm going to be late for warm up." The driver looked in the rearview mirror in surprise, "Sir", said the driver, "you're one of the most famous people in the world and you're worried that you're going to be late! If I were you I would be asking for some coke and a candy bar."

Seth thought that if the driver were him he would probably know that he already had some root beer (I hate coke) and skittles at his house (after all who wants to have an apple for a snack). "Can you just go faster," He said impatiently. The driver nodded, "As you wish, sir," and pressed on the gas pedal. Seth relaxed and stretched out his legs. Finally they were going faster; maybe he could just relax for a few minutes. That's when he heard the sirens.

The driver abruptly stopped the limo. Seth looked out the window; he saw that there was a huge car crash a few miles down the road. He could see the smoke and the fire from where he was. Well that was just great, now he was going to be even more late, he looked at his watch 9:00 p.m. He was supposed to be there already. The driver turned around to face him when suddenly Seth's iPhone started ringing. He looked at the driver in apology, and pulled his phone out of his front pocket. He looked at who was dialing and saw it was his best friend/bass guitar player of his band, Jake who was calling.

He answered "Hey Jake, sup?" "Seth," Jake said with urgency, "There's been an accident on highway 60. It's terrible! Ten cars in a row got smashed and thirty people died eighteen of them children. The police are saying some people with an ability to move large objects around escaped and did it out of revenge!" Jake was talking so fast I could barely keep up on what he was saying, "Wait, wait slow down, you mean a person with abilities escaped. How in the world did that happen and I can see the accident right now from my window."

"Seth….you need to get out of there right now and take a different road to the concert, I know we're all going to be super late, but who cares, the police said it is really dangerous where you are, like really dangerous. You're the singer of the Black Sun band and we can't have you hurt right now, when we're the most frickin popular band in America."

He rolled his eyes at how much his friend was freaking out, couldn't he just calm down a little. "Alright Jake, I'm coming and when I get there I hope you calm down, like really calm down." He could hear Jake exhaling in relief in the background. Then Jake said in a more normal tone "So I'll see you at the rock concert?" "Yeah, see you there." Then Seth hung up.

He took a deep breath and turned to the driver, "My friend was just on the phone and he said we should turn back because of the accident, plus it's going to take us even longer to get there if we go this way because of the traffic." The driver nodded in ascent and said in a polite tone, "As you wish sir, but were going to have to keep going this way past the accident because I can't turn here, if I could turn here I would."

He swore under his breath, "Well in that case," Seth said in an annoyed tone, "We might as well continue on." "I'm sorry, sir," said the driver, "But there's nothing I can do."

He sighed and continued looking out the window. Why didn't he bring his iPod, he wondered, of all things he could forget it had to be his iPod. He was a famous guy, you would think they would have a spare iPod just laying out for him in the limo, but no, you had to remember to _bring_ it.

They passed the crash thirty minutes later and he had to admit it looked like something out of Star Wars. One car was facing completely the wrong direction it was supposed to go and all the rest of the cars had smashed into it to make one huge hunk of metal. You could tell the cars used to be on fire because of the smell of burnt metal and the black scorch marks on the cars. He also saw many people crowded around the wreckage like police officers, nurses, doctors and…….. The Society. What in the name of Christ was The Society doing here! This really must be a bad situation if they were there.

The Society is a group of people who hunt down people with abilities. They don't kill them, they mostly just sell them as 'working people that help out and you don't have to pay them for it' at least that what the ads say, but basically that means they sell them as slaves. There are also rumors that they experiment on them and do other nasty stuff. Only really rich people could buy them, some of them even cost millions of dollars, but that's only for the really powerful and useful abilities. You could usually tell who had abilities and who didn't. People with abilities were usually more beautiful and a lot better at athletics than normal people. They also had strange color eyes, one time he had seen one of them with hot pink eyes and many of them had violet eyes. Seth's family was rich enough to buy one but they believed it was wrong to buy people no matter what they looked like and what they can do. So Seth grew up like that, believing that what The Society did was wrong. Since he was famous he put out many protests against buying people with abilities, it seemed to be working a little but not really.

Seth looked closer at The Society people and saw the leader of their organization, who he saw on T.V. many times. The man was a tall lean fellow, who you could tell worked out a lot in the gym, he had short black hair, black eyes and was very pale, as if his skin didn't react to the hot summer sun. He had a handsome face, but yet it was scary at the same time, sort of like a hawk.

The man was talking to one of the police officers and gesturing toward the wreckage, when he rather abruptly turned around and looked straight at him. Surprised, Seth stared back at him and saw something like pleasure and satisfaction at finding something in his eyes, freaked out by the man; he pretended he was playing with something in his hand. He could still feel the man's gaze burning into his back, when the driver finally drove passed the wreckage and headed toward his concert. He looked up in relief, why was that man staring at him like that he didn't know, but he had a bad feeling about it.

Chapter 2

"In the end," were the last words he said of the song. Thousands of people instantly began cheering and begging him to sing another song. But Seth was shaking his head and saying that they had run out of time. He looked at the rest of his band and saw they were smiling at the many people cheering and clapping for them. He smiled himself; they had done a very good job at captivating everybody into their music. He walked from the stage with his three friends, Jake, Evan and Michael. They all began talking of how well the concert went and what they wanted for dinner. Seth suddenly remembered that he had forgotten his jacket and said he would meet them at the car. The guys nodded and Seth started toward the stage again.

He wiped sweat from his brow. It was hard being famous, but it was worth it. Now he could look forward to a good dinner. Maybe they could get some of that good pizza from…….. "Hello Seth," said a cold voice. I turned around and saw the leader of The Society standing there, the one he had seen at the wreckage. He saw that he was carrying handcuffs in his hand. What in the world, he thought, was he doing here?

The man smiled a crafty smile. Seth realized that the man was a lot taller than he thought. Seth had always been tall but compared to this guy he felt like a mouse.

"I see you really made a show for your audience today," said the man breaking through his thoughts, "how old are you, seventeen?"

Seth didn't like this guy, but he kept his voice calm, "Um, I'm actually sixteen and just one question, what are you doing here?"

The man walked even closer to him, "Actually, I came here on business, and surely you know my work?"

I nodded, "Yes I do, who doesn't? You're on the T.V. like every day." The man smiled again, "Your pretty young to be this famous already, you must be really talented." Surprised by the praise, Seth said, "Actually, it isn't just me it's my friends who do most of the work, I just write the songs and sing them."

"Oh, but it was my understanding that you were the one who made this whole band come to life." Seth shrugged and made a face of I have to go right now. "I don't want to keep my friends waiting," he said. The man's expression then became serious, "Of course, you don't want to keep your friends waiting, but-." He snapped his fingers. Faster than he thought possible The Society people came in and grabbed hold of both of his arms and bound them.

He struggled and wondered what he did wrong. He tried to pull away from them, but they only held on tighter. He kicked and pulled but nothing worked. While he was doing this the man came right next to him, and took out what looked like a gun and pointed it at his head.

"I suggest you stop struggling, or you'll find this bullet in your head." He instantly stopped struggling, and asked in a pleading voice "What do you want from me? What did I do?"

The man merely came next to him and began stroking his hair. "Seth, Seth," said the man in a unruffled voice "you guys always act so innocent, but when you find out who you are you can't believe it." Seth shivered, and it wasn't from the cold.

The man then took hold of both sides of his face and forced him to look into those terrible black eyes as he put the gun to the side. "You know I always had a bad feeling whenever I saw you on T.V. and now look."

Seth tried to kick him, but the man was so fast! He already had the gun in his hand again. He watched as the gun clicked into ready, "Seth, you have to learn to be nice, but don't worry I'm not going to kill you." The man then fired the gun and a dart came out and lodged into his arm. Drowsiness began to creep into his body and then he knew no more.

Seth woke up in a white room. He was in a bed covered with white sheets and all the walls around him were white even the carpet on the floor was white. The only thing not white was a mirror on the right wall. Confusion swirled in his head of how he got here and what had happened. Then it all came back. The concert, the man, the dart. He must be in one of those facilities that they put people with abilities in. The problem was he didn't have any abilities.

He sighed, then got out of the bed and went over to the wall to see if there were any doors he could escape from. He saw no door, but maybe it was hidden as a wall. He felt along the walls, but they were all smooth as paper. He sat on the bed and sulked, he was supposed to be having dinner right now, or last time he checked, it could be hours from dinner time or just a few minutes.

He stared at the mirror. His friends and girlfriends were always complementing his green emerald eyes. They always said they seem to be so green that they were glowing. His friends also made him grow his unruly black hair almost to his shoulders. He had always been great at sports and he was the fastest kid in the high school by a lot. He also never seemed to stop growing. Last time he checked he was 6'4".

He lay on the bed, bored, was he just going to lie here for all eternity or until he starved to death. A few minutes later a door in the wall opened. In came a middle aged woman, she was small and stout and had thick brown curly hair that came just past her shoulders. She was carrying a tray of something steaming and that smelled good.

"Who are you," I said without thinking. The woman smiled a motherly smile, "I'm Teresa, and I'm supposed to take care of you until the master wants to speak to you." Her voice was soft and warm, but he wasn't deceived. "Who is this master?"

The woman knelt and put the tray down at his feet. "That information is private, but you have already met him," Teresa said and then she smiled, "I know how confused you must be. But it isn't my place to tell you why you are here." Then she got up and went toward the wall/door. "Wait!" he said quickly. But she didn't listen and left the room.

Seth groaned, why couldn't he get any answers, now he was going to have to wait for hours, but at least he wouldn't starve to death. He looked at the tray, it had some tomato soup, a grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of water. He wondered why they didn't bring some dessert. Well he couldn't have everything and he might as well eat while he can.

Chapter 3

The door opened a few hours later to reveal the man that had put him in this white prison. He saw that he was wearing really casual clothes, some jeans and a black T-shirt. Casual except on what he saw on his belt. The belt seemed to have numerous tools like different types of guns. There was also a column shaped thing, he wondered what it was.

Seth shifted uncomfortable on the bed, at seeing the man. "Well Seth, I see you are making yourself at home," his voice was bitter cold as he walked toward the bed.

"Yeah," I said sarcastically, "I'm making myself right at home. Especially since it looks like I killed ten men. Oops, I guess you caught me." I could feel myself getting angrier and angrier as I said every word.

The man smiled mockingly, "I know you're in an uncomfortable situation, but you have to understand that we have to detain you because you an ability." The man's eyes glimmered with a sickening light as he said this.

Seth looked at his hands, the horrible man must be lying, he had no special abilities, if he did he would know them and plus….... he didn't think he looked like them.

The man continued saying, "After all Seth, you do look like them; look at those green eyes you have and those beautiful features on your face. Flawless is what most people would call it. I also looked at your file and see that you're amazing at sports, the best by a long ways it looks like." Seth looked at the far right wall. The man might be right, but he couldn't prove that he had any abilities; he knew he didn't have any. And how that man got access to such a file about himself, he wondered.

"You can't prove-," Seth started. "But I can prove that you have abilities," interrupted the man, "how do you think you became famous at fourteen years old, when you're family could barely support itself? How do you think you're one of the most well known people in America?" As the man continued he found himself feeling weak and beginning to realize that the man was right. He had an ability even though he didn't know what in the world it was.

"Then what are my abilities," Seth asked weakly. The man smiled again and sat down on the bed right next to him. "I have been researching a lot about you, and I I'm pretty sure I know what it is." The man began stroking his hair.

Seth flinched, "Don't touch me!" he said fiercely and got up. The man got up too. "If you want to know you're abilities than I suggest you sit down," he said calmly.

"And what if I don't want to find out?" He said raising his voice. The man's eyes were suddenly like fire, and faster than he thought possible he was pinned to the wall. "You know, boy," he said softly, "I would really appreciate it if you would listen to me." Seth's eyes grew wide and his breath came faster in sudden fear of this man. No man could go that fast unless he had an ability. "Now," said the man taking something from his belt. "I suggest you listen very carefully or you'll find yourself on my knife. You're power is what I would call a copycat. Which means you can do what you see someone do that is, for instance, impossible for anyone else to do." The man released his hold on him and he fell to the ground.

He quickly got up as the man continued talking. "For example, if, let's say, someone can jump ten feet in the air and do a triple back flip without a trampoline, you would be able to do it. Which means you could be of use to me." Seth found himself shaking his head to what he was saying. It couldn't be true, what he was saying, it just couldn't. Surely he couldn't be that blind to what his power was. Sure, he always found it really simple to do stuff when other people thought it was hard, but some people were like that weren't they? At least that's what he always thought.

"I don't believe you," Seth said quietly. The man looked astounded at this. "You mean you never assumed that you're ability was this? Well it looks like I'm going to have to prove it to you." In answer to that he took the long cylinder object in his hand and held it up, "Do you know what this is? It's called a Purifier, it's used to torture and capture people with abilities and it only works on people with abilities." He then did some kind of weird motion and a blue hot wire (like a whip) swung out of it and onto the floor.

"Now to be able to do that," said the man "would take years. Let's see if you can do it by just watching me and maybe then you will believe me." The man took the whip like thing and just by touching it, swung back into the cylinder thing and gave it to him. He took it and without really meaning to, did the weird motion that the man did. Almost instantly the whip thing came out of the Purifier. Astonished, Seth sent it flying back in the cylinder.

The man was smiling, "Do you believe me now, Seth, or should I do something else?" Seth dropped the Purifier. "I believe you," he said weakly.

"Good," said the man and bent down to retrieve the Purifier and in less than a second had taken a needle connected to a tube with some clear liquid in it from his belt and had injected it into Seth's arm. Almost immediately he began to feel really drowsy and just wanted to fall asleep. The last thing Seth saw was the man beginning to pick him up.

Chapter 4

Seth woke up (again) in a different room. He saw that his wrists and ankles were anchored down to a metal board. He also saw tubes attached to his arms and chest connected to a computer and that his shirt was off and he was wearing white pants. He groaned, he felt so achy like a million rocks had been thrown at him. He ignored the achiness and tried to sit up, but was held by the metal bracelets.

He struggled again and saw the computer started beeping faster and saw it was taking his heart rate. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. He would escape this somehow, he thought, if he would ever get off these frickin metal things. Even if he did escape he wouldn't be able to go back to his old life. He wondered how his friends were doing and what these people had told his parents. Had they said that he was dead, just the thought of that made his heart stop. That would mean no one would be wondering where he was. His mom must be grieving horribly. It was then that the door opened.

In came two people, one was a very beautiful woman and the man who had gotten him into this mess. The woman was tall and slim, with wavy gold her that came to her waist and eyes as violet as an iris. He right away knew that the woman had an ability.

"Hello Seth," said the man, "had a few rough nights, you must feel it." What did he mean a few rough nights? How long had he been out? "I'd like you to meet Clare," continued the man, gesturing towards the woman. Clare smiled a glimmering smile at this, "Hello Seth, as you can tell James isn't the nice type, but maybe you will get used to him." So that was the man's name, he thought, James.

"How long have I been out? And what are you doing to me?" He asked. James smiled serenely and stroked Seth's arm gently. "I'm sure you have many questions, but just so you're aware I won't answer all of them," James's voice was bitter as he continued, "you have been out for about a week. I have to admit, I'm surprised you woke up so early, I expected you to be out for at least a couple days more."

Seth watched as he went over to the computer and picked up a bundle of papers. "It says here that you were adopted, and that no one knows you're birth parents. It also says you were homeschooled till you were thirteen and that you're adopted parents only let you out of the house before you were thirteen to exercise. Only when you begged them did they finally relent to get you into a school. Even when they did let you get into school, you had a strict curfew and weren't allowed to make friends. At first you were obedient but then you didn't listen to those rules and started a band because you apparently had a great singing voice. You quickly went to the top of the bestselling songs, albums and music videos list. In here it says you haven't been in contact to your adopted family in a year." James looked up from the papers and walked toward Clare. "The reason I have Clare here is because she can read everything about you're past history even when you were a little baby. But for her to be able to read your mind she needs to touch you." He signaled to Clare who knelt by Seth.

He felt stricken with all that the man had said about him. How in the world had he gotten that much information about him, it didn't make sense.

"Seth," said Clare gently, "this might hurt a little depending on what memories I have to get out of you. It would hurt less if you chose for me to do this." I looked at Clare and her fake gentleness. "Do you think I'm that stupid to let you go into my head by choice? Well you're wrong and you know what, I'm never going to do anything for you guys ever, even if I die." Then I spat her face.

Clare looked stunned as the saliva hit her. She quickly wiped the spit off her face. "You know Seth; I have to admit I'm pretty disappointed in your behavior." And with that she took his head in his hands. It was like putting your head in a metal grinder. Memories started shifting in front of his eyes and pain. The pain was like nothing he had ever felt before. It was like a migraine except a million times worse. He couldn't help it, he started screaming. All he was thinking was that his head was on fire. He screamed and screamed until he couldn't anymore and he just wanted to die and then it was over.

When he had gotten over the pain, he heard angry voices in the background. "What do you think you're doing, Clare!" said James in a dangerous voice, "You nearly killed him! If you haven't forgotten he's just sixteen." He then heard a click of a gun. He heard Clare crying, "Please," she begged, "I was mad, I couldn't control myself, please don't kill me." He heard James sigh. "Clare, you're use for me had dried up……goodbye." He then heard gun fire and the crying stopped abruptly.

Seth tried to open his eyes and finally succeeded. He could barely move his head, but he didn't need to, to see the blood. He saw the once beautiful Clare on the floor. A bullet had ripped open her head and blood was running out of it, her thick golden hair had turned a dark red from all the blood on the floor and her once violet eyes, full of life, now stared into nothingness. He suddenly felt an urge to vomit. He had never seen something so horrifying (except in movies).

James, on the other hand, seemed unaffected by Clare's death and was talking on his Blackberry phone. "Yes I killed her, she didn't follow orders and I had to do what I had to. It's a shame, really, she was a pretty woman." James stopped and only listened only adding a few hmm's here and there. Then he said in a more treacherous voice, "Right now I just want somebody to clean up this body, and then I'll go get the girl you're talking about". He then hung up and looked at Seth.

"So Seth," he said calmly, "how do you feel? I'm sorry for what Clare did to you, it was never meant to happen." James looked at him with petrifying eyes, "two days ago, when we we're experimenting on you, I was amazed at how smart you are, you have a hugely enhanced photographic memory that just by seeing someone do something, clicks in your brain….amazing really."

Seth was in shock, "Let me go," was all he managed to get out of his mouth. James laughed at this and pressed a button on the computer. Immediately the metal bracelets released from his wrists and ankles.

"Try to escape," said James, "Just try." I tried to sit up, but couldn't because I was so weak.

"What did you do to me?" said Seth. James smiled cruelly, "As I told you , we did experiments on you for a week, using a special formula that kept you out for a long time. We usually do this to every person with a new ability that we find." James paused, "But yours is the best one I've found yet."

Unexpectedly two people came in the room wearing white lab coats; they went to Clare's body and roughly put it in a large black bag. They tightened the bag and left. It happened so quickly he could barely tell what had happened.

"What are you going to do with Clare's body," he asked frightened. James smiled, amused, and went toward Seth and began stroking his face. He was too weak to get away from James and endured him. "Seth, Seth," he said coolly, "When people with abilities cease to be of use to me, I kill them and put them, let's say, in my own special graveyard." Seth looked at James in horror, and felt his heart drop as he heard this. 'His own special graveyard', he wasn't sure if he wanted to see that.

"Now," said James, "I need to do one more experiment on you, before I go." He then pulled the Purifier out of his belt and did the motion to get the whip out of it. "For me to do this," continued James, "I need you to be completely still or this will hurt more than it has to." James then slapped the glowing blue whip on to his arm. It instantly began to wrap around his arm, tight.

It was like an electric current zapping through him and it hurt like Hell (maybe worse). It hurt even more than Clare's mind thing; he started to scream from the horrible pain, but was shocked when he couldn't. It lasted about a minute, then it was over.

He started sweating and shaking. Seth looked at James and saw he was smiling, pleased. "You took that very well, Seth, I'm surprised, most people with abilities are crying their lungs out," James went over to the computer and began to check various things on there. He then wrote down something on the stack of papers.

"I will be gone for a little while, but when I get back, will talk some more, how about that." He took a cup and poured some pink liquid into it and went over to Seth. "Here, drink this, you won't fall asleep tight away, but you will." James then forced it down his throat and left the room. A few minutes later he started sobbing.

Chapter 5

When he had woken up again no one was in the room, He sat up, and felt much better than he had the last time. He saw nothing was attached to him, no tubes, no chains, nothing. Although he still didn't have shirt on.

He got up and went toward the door, He tried the handle, but it was locked. Too bad, he thought to himself, well he might as well check out the place while he could, maybe find a way to escape.

Seth went over to the computer and saw what James was doing. He was shocked to see pictures of him as a little boy and pictures of his adopted parents. He clicked on another window and saw they had been watching him since he was thirteen. He saw whole written documents of what he did every day, such as, Seth went to the ice cream store with a bunch of friends. Seth danced all night with his girlfriend and so on. As he read more and more he began to realize that The Society was an organization that was smart, mysterious and secretive of what they did. He had absolutely no idea they had been spying on him, they must have secret agents everywhere he went for them to have so much information about him.

He went over to the stack of papers and saw they contained information on the experiments on him and facts about his……birth parents.

How did they have _that _kind of information? Seth's adopted parents had always said his birth parents had died in a terrible plane crash, but now he saw they were lying.

The paper didn't mention any names, but it said his mother had been murdered, but before this she had given him up because of SPECIAL REASONS. They didn't say much about his father except he was still alive. It then went on to say that people with abilities live almost forever, but can die from the same things as ordinary people, that was all it said.

Seth was stunned at how much The Society knew about him. His father was alive? Maybe he could try to find…. He forced himself to get a grip, he needed to find a way to escape, he told himself, not obsess over his birth parents.

He looked around the table to find any keys, buttons, anything to get him out of here. He didn't get far before the door opened. In came James and a woman. The woman was talking to James in a commanding voice and James, surprisingly, was bowing his head and nodding to everything the woman said.

Did this woman have power over James? For some reason Seth felt afraid her. She had long wavy black hair that came to her waist, she was tall and slim, but her eyes were what caught his attention, they were both different colors, one was a stunning blue and the other was a vibrant violet.

What he saw behind the woman made his jaw drop. It was the most beautiful person he had ever seen in his life. It was a boy, at least that's what he thought, the boy was too beautiful for him to really tell. If he thought Clare was beautiful, this boy was a hundred times more. His face was the face of a black haired angel or seemed to be carved by a master artist. Another weird thing about him was that he glowed a whitish glow, like he was so powerful that it kept leaking out. He also had the saddest eyes he had ever seen, like he had witnessed his family and friends die in a single instant.

The boy had silver handcuffs around his wrists that were attached to a chain in the woman's hands. James was looking greedily at the boy, you could tell he just wanted to snatch the boy, but he was restraining himself, which was weird for him.

"This boy is not for sale, James, as I said for the millionth time," said the woman, "This one is too special to give to you, I'm afraid." James bowed deeply at this, "Of course, Diane, I was only wondering if there was anything I can do for you to give that boy to me," his voice sounded even more greedy, but also respectful too.

Diane sighed, "I know this is hard, but maybe there is one thing you could for me." She paused and bent down toward the boy. "It is a rather simple request, but it may be hard for you to fulfill. I would like you to serve me, if I ask something of you, you will do it without hesitating," she paused again and began to stroke the boy's silky black hair, "Only then will I give you the boy."

Seth looked at the boy; he saw that he was shaking horribly. The boy didn't look much older than him, and he felt bad for him. It wasn't his fault he was extremely beautiful and powerful.

"Do I have any say in this?" said the boy in the most beautiful voice he had ever heard. It was like the best music in the world mixed with the sound of magic. Diane immediately slapped him across the face, hard. The boy began to glow even brighter after she did this; he realized it must be from the boy's anger. He saw him struggle in the cuffs, but his attempts were useless.

"You shouldn't be talking," Diane, said harshly, "After all you're in no position to be doing that, are you?" She then grabbed both sides of his face and whispered a few words in a language he didn't understand. Instantly the boy began screaming and rolling on the floor in pain. He saw him try to stop, but couldn't. Without thinking Seth said, "STOP!" he sounded really loud, he had to admit, the boys screams had helped a little.

James and Diane seemed to have forgotten he was there and were surprised by this outburst. Diane snapped her fingers and the boy stopped screaming and started gasping for air.

"Is this the boy you were talking about, James?" Diane said as she walked toward him, dragging the boy along with her. The boy started moaning and struggled to get up, but couldn't.

James smiled pitilessly, "Yes, this is him, the copycat, he will be very useful." Seth started getting angry at being talked and treated like an animal. That's all they were doing, putting experiments on him, and torturing him. They were doing the same thing to that boy now.

"How can you keep torturing him like this? What did he ever do?" he found himself saying, "What did I ever do to deserve this?" Seth wanted to say more, but unexpectedly the woman whispered more words and he was thrown in the air and against the wall. The impact with the wall hurt horribly, he was almost sure she had broken his back; he forced himself not to moan.

Diane, on the other hand, was walking toward him, "how old is he, James? Three hundred or three hundred and twenty?" Seth shivered, three hundred or three hundred and twenty, what did she mean?

"Actually," James pointed out, "He's sixteen." Diane looked at Seth, shock written all over her face. "He's sixteen! You're joking, he's so young, almost a baby." James laughed, "I know," he said.

"What do you mean am I three hundred?" Seth managed to get out of his mouth, "You don't mean it literally?"

James looked at him with piercing eyes; "I assume you read part of those papers over there. It says that people with abilities live almost forever, if someone doesn't kill them first."

Millions of questions began swirling in his head, but he would have no answers for them.

"How old is the boy?" James asked Diane politely. Diane smiled coldly, "it's his birthday today, December 31st, and he just turned two thousand at midnight." Two thousand! He thought, and they were still calling him a boy, how old did do you have to be to be a man.

"I accept your request, I'll serve you," James bowed again. Diane nodded, "Good, now take care of him and before I forget he doesn't need to eat very much, feed him about once a year." She said handing the chain to James and then she disappeared into thin air.

James studied the boy for a moment, "I assume you've had a lot of training considering the cuffs you're wearing. Absorption cuffs aren't they, they don't let you use your ability." The boy just looked at James, ready to kill him. James then took a fist full of the boy's hair and pulled his head back. "What's your name?" he said coldly.

The boy said nothing, and merely looked at him with angry eyes. "Stubborn one aren't you, I like stubborn it gives me a challenge." James then took a gun out of his pocket and shot a bullet in the boy's arm. He didn't even flinch as the bullet sliced through his skin. He just stared at James as the red blood flowed down is arm.

"Ah," said James, "you're not the pain type, you're more of no one should suffer for you kind of person." James smiled and, faster than anybody could react, shot Seth in the arm. At first he couldn't feel anything, and then it hurt unbearably. He sank to the ground and moaned as the hot red blood seeped out of the wound.

The boy had a shocked look on his face and his beautiful voice held horror in it, "My names Rohan, you damned demon from Hell, and if I were free right now that would have been the last thing you've ever done!" James looked amused by this and knelt by him, "It looks like I'm going to have to teach you lesson. Since you are very powerful, absorbing you're power should hurt you pretty bad. Shall we see?" James then pressed a button on the chain, that he hadn't seen before and the boy's eyes grew wide and his body sagged. Soon he was whimpering like a puppy on the floor and the glow that surrounded him before, was gone.

"Hurts doesn't it, Rohan, having your ability sucked out of you." Seth, seeing this, felt sick; he just wanted to throw up. James then pressed the button again and the absorbing stopped. "Having a nice birthday?" said James treacherously, "I hope so."

James then took his cell phone out of his pocket; he dialed a quick number and began to speak to the person on the phone, "Mr. Crouch, yes it's me, I would like you to prepare a special cell for someone. I want to make sure that I am the only one who can open it. I don't care how you do it. I also want it that there is no possible way that an ability can work in it and have absorption chains for the neck, wrists and ankles. Got that?" he paused, "Okay and also bring some people to take him there," he then hung up.

Seth was holding his arm, trying to put pressure on it to help stop the flow of blood. It was then that two men in dark coats and sunglasses came in. They bowed to James and began talking to him for a few minutes too quiet for him to hear. One of the men took the chain from James's hand that was holding Rohan and took the half fainted boy away.

When they had left, James gestured for him to stand up, but Seth felt too dizzy to. By now all around him were spots of blood. James smiled softly, "It looks like we're going to have to take that bullet out right now. Fortunately I have the tools right here." He then took out from one of the cabinets a medical kit. Taking the medical kit he went toward him. James knelt by him and took out some metal pincers, alcohol and bandages from the kit. Grabbing hold of his arm, James took the pincers; Seth bit his lip from crying out. He had a feeling this was going to hurt like Hell.

"Now Seth, I need you to stay calm and try not to move, although that's probably not going to happen because I'm guessing that no one has ever taken a bullet out of you before."

James then took the pincers and reached into his bloody arm where the wound was and with amazing perfection, like he did this all the time, took the bullet out. He screamed in agony and nearly fainted. James quickly took the alcohol and poured it gently onto the wound, it stung like crazy, if he wasn't so dizzy, it probably would have felt worse. Seth barely noticed James wrapping the bandages around his arm before he fainted.

When he awoke he was in a warm bed with white sheets. He saw he had a rather bloody bandage on his arm. He moaned, it stung horribly and he so didn't want to get up.

The room he was in had many beds, and he saw that they had some other people in them. This must be a hospital in The Society, he thought. One of the hospital people saw him awake and went toward him, he saw it was Teresa, the woman who had given him the tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich. She smiled warmly as she came over, "How are you feeling?" she said gently and with a trace of fear.

"Terrible," he said raucously, his tongue felt heavy as he said this. Teresa looked frightened when she heard this, "Please, you can't feel terrible! I put all the right medicines and everything." She then began babbling to herself, "Can you get up?" she finally said desperately. Seth found himself wondering why she was freaking out so much, who cares if he felt terrible or not.

He tried to sit up, but couldn't because his arm started hurting like someone had cut it off. Seth cried out and wanted to touch his arm and get the bandage off to see how horrible the wound was. Teresa, on the other hand, was unwrapping it herself and taking fresh bandages from her pocket. A panicky look was on her face as she did this.

What was she so frightened of "Ow!" he cried, as she took off the bandage. He took a quick intake of breath as he looked at his arm; there was a horrible whole where the bullet had ripped through his skin. It was also still bleeding, but thankfully, not as much as before. He watched as Teresa wrapped the fresh white bandage snug around his arm. "Ouch! Watch it, that really hurts," he complained. Teresa didn't seem to be listening, but she was done anyway.

It was at that moment the door opened and James came in. Seeing Seth and Teresa he went toward them. Teresa suddenly started shaking and he realized that's whom she was frightened of.

"How is he?" James asked Teresa, "I could hear that boy anywhere with those cries"

"He…. he's fine, he just doesn't like me changing his bandages, master," Teresa said looking at the floor. James smiled cruelly at the little woman. "Tell me," said James taking both of Teresa's cheeks in his hands and forcing her to look at him, "Can he stand? Can he even sit up?" Seth felt bad for Teresa, she looked so scared, "Yes he can stand up," she said so softly he could barely hear her. She then started sobbing, as James looked at her heartlessly, "You know, I don't appreciate it when my servants lie to me, and…..Teresa, this isn't the first time is it." He paused looking at her sobbing face, "Do you remember what I said if you did it again," he said quietly.

While this was going on, Seth was thinking that he had to get up no matter how much it hurt. He struggled to sit up and with much biting of his tongue, sat up without making a sound. Now, he told himself, he had to get on his feet. Taking a deep breath he got off the bed and stood for about a second before he collapsed on the bed again, very dizzy.

James wasn't looking at Teresa anymore; instead he was looking at him with those horrible black eyes of his. Seth swallowed hard, anyone would be afraid of James, but he ignored his fear, "See? I stood up; she wasn't lying, if you should punish someone it should be me, because it was me who lied." James smiled and looked back at Teresa, "It seems like Seth saved you're life for a few moments." And faster than he thought possible, took out his gun and shot Teresa straight in the head. Her eyes grew wide with shock and she fell to the ground in a heap.

Seth felt like fainting just then, this has to be a dream, he thought, it has to be. By now James was talking on his cell phone telling someone to clean up the body. He lay down in total shock, how could he just kill someone like that. Seth felt like just lying down there forever, just staring. Why hadn't James killed him yet, he didn't know, but he hoped this was just a horrible nightmare. Just a nightmare, he told himself. Just telling himself this made him feel better. He would wake up in a few moments and it would all be over.

James had put his cell phone back in his pocket and checked the time on his watch. He muttered something of not enough time in the day to do everything. At that moment he looked at Seth, "It's too bad Teresa couldn't heal you fast enough. You were going to be on T.V today with me, telling everybody what you are and whom you are. The famous rock star turned out to just be a slave for the rest of his life."

Seth didn't know how he did it, but he was on his feet ready to strangle him. James smiled smoothly, "Go ahead try to hit me." Faster then he thought he could go, he took a swipe at his face. James merely sidestepped away looking amused and my fist met midair.

"Come now, you can do better than that." Seth tried again and again, but he couldn't land a single blow. He very soon became extremely dizzy and weak again and almost collapsed.

James was looking even more amused, "You think a boy of sixteen, even one with your ability, can hurt me? You must be joking." By this time Seth was feeling really sick.

"How…old are…. you," he puffed. James sat on the bed and looked at him, "I admit I don't really know my exact age, I believe I'm about eighteen million." Seth felt his mouth drop, "You're…. joking, I thought…. Rohan was…old." James then yanked back his injured arm, hard. "Imagine, Seth, I can have you all of your life, which is forever."

James let go of his arm and he started shaking. Seth took his now searing, throbbing with pain arm to his chest. James had gotten up," Now Seth, I have a meeting with the president of the United States." He then looked into Seth's eyes, "Be good," and then he left.

Chapter 6

The next few days were Hell. When he said Hell, he meant Hell. When James had gotten back from his meeting with President, it seemed he wanted to take him everywhere that he went. The first day he showed Seth how he tortured someone with an extremely powerful ability, which of course, had to be Rohan. Seth had vomited so much after that show that James let him take a break.

The next day he showed him around The Society headquarters. He said that this headquarters was the main one; the others were in Hiroshima, Rome, London, Mexico City, Tokyo, Amman, Gaza, Hollywood, Tallahassee, Montgomery, Dallas, San Juan, Beijing, New Delhi, Paris and Vancouver. When he heard this, Seth realized they were everywhere.

James then showed him all the experiment rooms (many with people with abilities in them), the exercise rooms to make sure people with abilities could be fit when he needed them to be. The last things he showed him were the hospitals and various Society people. The first one he met was a woman with short dark hair and rather small of figure. He could tell James didn't really like her; frankly he was surprised he hadn't killed her yet. Another one he met was a man who showed a lot of interest in him.

So you're name is Seth? I have to admit, I work in Hiroshima and usually they have a lot of weird talents there, but yours I've never even heard of." The man then turned to James and said quietly, "He could be very useful." James merely nodded.

The rest of The Society people were absolutely dreadful. All they wanted to do was touch him and ask questions about Seth like how tall he was? What ability did he have? How much muscle does he have? Or say other comments like, "I've never seen such eyes. He's a handsome one. Wasn't he famous before? Seth especially hated it when they touched his arm and if he made a sound of pain they seemed content to keep pinching it or squeezing it.

The last Society person he saw had a slave. She had long dirty blonde hair that looked really silky. She had magenta eyes and rather long lashes. She looked a little younger than him and was rather too skinny to be healthy as if she never had enough to eat.

The man that held her wanted to talk to James alone and told the girl to stay there. The girl nodded and James left with the man. Seth looked at the girl, he had never been shy with girls, and they always seemed to be attracted to him. But this girl was different, she wasn't attracted to him, in fact she looked very worried about something and also very sad.

"What's your name?" Seth asked her, his voice dripping with his ability. You see he had watched many male people talk to girls and knew exactly how to talk to them.

The girl seemed surprised that he was talking to her. "Why do you care!?" she said, her voice full of venom. Taken aback by how she didn't fall for him, Seth was at a loss at what to say.

"I'm sorry if I offended you," he managed to say. The girl turned away from him," Yeah, well you would understand if you were me, now don't talk to me," the last word broke with a sob.

Seth looked down, "I'm sorry." He couldn't help it; he went over to her and put a hand on her shoulder in comfort. "Don't touch me! You don't deserve to, you're not the one who just lost everyone you ever loved, okay." And then she broke down.

He realized that that man must have just caught her, for her to be acting like this. She then began to sob in his arms. Seth stroked her back and murmured comforting words.

A few minutes later, she wiped her nose on her sleeve and wiped her eyes and realizing whose arms she was in pulled away quickly. He looked at her and she looked terrible. "It must have been hard for you to lose your family like that, I'm sorry," he said again.

The girl looked at the floor, "You must think me a cry baby, I'm not usually like this. "Seth was shaking his head at this and said, "No, I don't think you a cry baby at all, if my family died I would probably be worse."

She smiled through her tear filled eyes, "Thanks," she then took a shaky breath to calm herself. "My names Ivy." He smiled warmly at her, "My names Seth and," realization hit him; he could escape right now with her. "Ivy lets escape from here, no one is here to stop us." Ivy looked hopeful for a second then it went away like that, "It's impossible, we'd get caught right away and then he…. he would do something horrible to me."

Seth tried to convince her again but she just shook her head. Saddened that she wasn't coming, he suddenly wondered if he should leave without her. He told himself that once he escaped, he'd tell some people at what The Society was doing to people with abilities and they would help everybody and put The Society in prison.

"Hey Ivy, if I escape, I will try to get you and everybody out of here." Ivy suddenly looked scared, "Don't try to escape! When they catch you it will be horrible for you." Seth shook his head, "Goodbye, Ivy see you soon," and then he ran.

He had never run so fast in his life, all he knew was that he had to go up, so every time he came to some stairs he went up. He began to get really weak after a while; he guessed the torturing hadn't done him any good. One of the Society people saw him when he was about to go up the last flight of stairs and faster then he thought anyone could go had caught him.

"Well, well, well," Seth looked at The Society person; it was the Hiroshima guy. "If it isn't Seth, you're master won't be too happy with you. James is probably the worst of us, not to mention the leader of The Society." While he was saying this, Seth was struggling from the man's grip, but his attempts were useless.

He watched the man take a cell phone out of his pocket. "James, it's me Eric, yeah I caught him, wasn't too hard," Eric paused, "Okay." Then he hung up.

Eric looked at Seth with pity, "James isn't happy at all, you're in big trouble boy, I don't know what he's going to do to you." Seth felt a sinking feeling in his stomach, oh no, he thought, Ivy was right he should never have tried to escape.

A few minutes later James came with the other man and Ivy, he looked just about ready to kill him. "Alright Eric," said James in the coldest voice, "I'll take it from here." Eric bowed and threw him at James's feet. James, seeing him on the right position, saw it fitting to step on his wounded arm extremely hard. It hurt. He started screaming, and tried to scramble away, but didn't get far before he was kicked in the stomach. For a minute all the air was knocked out of him and then he began gasping for it.

"Tell me," said James nastily, "Why you decide to run away at such an inconvenient time." James kicked him again. He cried out and curled up in a ball. He saw Ivy was looking away and the two men were looking on calmly. James then knelt and put a hand on his head. Seth began shaking violently as his breath came out in gasps. Seth guessed he had a few broken ribs where James had kicked him. He let out a moan.

"I haven't even gotten started," James murmured in his ear. He then took out his gun and shot him in the other arm. Just then he felt like dying, why couldn't he just die? The fierce pain in the arm that just got shot was worse than he had ever felt. James then stood up and stepped on the arm he had just shot and broke it. He started screaming horribly and almost fainted. The pain, oh it hurt so much, surely it had to stop, oh please stop. He just wanted to die, just die.

James then began talking to someone of how he should get moved, so he could heal for a few days, before he fainted.

The next few nights were the worst nights of his life. All he felt was pain, pain and more pain. It never stopped; he would suddenly wake up screaming from nightmares surfacing from the pain. Then he would start sobbing, just wanting it to stop. Some people would change his cast and bandages, but they never gave him pain medication, probably because James told them not to, wanting him to suffer. Each day seemed to take a lifetime. Once a day James would come checking his temperature and heartbeat and say a few words before he would leave. Eventually after a few weeks, the pain began to subside until it was a dull throb. When he could finally sit up, he began to wonder about food. He hadn't eaten since that grilled cheese sandwich, he had drank enough, but hadn't eaten anything and hunger was gnawing at his stomach. One time he had had looked at himself in a mirror and he had to admit that he looked terrible. His hair was a mess, his one once glowing green eyes were now dull. He had horrible black dots under his eyes and was terribly thin, he could see every one of his ribs, and he needed to eat badly. When James came and saw him sitting up, he was forced to talk to him, "I assume you aren't planning to escape again, are you," James's voice was more gentle than usual, Seth felt terribly afraid of him, but forced himself to stay calm. He shook his head that he was never going to do that again and James seemed satisfied with that answer. He then stroked Seth's face gently. "You don't look too good, I realize that you should probably eat, but when I did some tests on you I was surprised at how long you can go without food, but you should eat sometimes." He then signaled to one of the hospital people to come over. "Yes, sir?" asked the woman. "I know I said you shouldn't give him any food," James said icily, "But I believe he should have some now, he's looking rather too thin for my taste." The woman nodded, "Is there anything you prefer for him?" she asked. James got up, "Something light, I don't think he could stomach anything else. The woman bowed, "I shall, sir," And went to do as she was told.

James surveyed Seth, "In a few days you will be well enough to stand and then I'll have a little surprise for you." He began to feel weaker then he already was as James left the room. Seth closed his eyes and imagined he was in his own room, listening to his iPod and fell asleep.

Chapter 7

James was right; he could barely stomach the soup they had brought him. He ate only a few bites before he began to feel sick. The hospital people weren't surprised by this and only told him to eat when he felt like it. Seth did as he was told.

A couple days passed and he soon tried to walk. At first he could only go few feet but gradually he began to walk more confidently. James also kept to his word and when he was well enough to walk about a mile, took him out the door and into the sunlight. It was a relief to feel the warm sun on his skin and at being outside. It had been a month and a half since he had been out.

James took him to a field that was still in the perimeter of the headquarters. The field was beautiful, with every kind of wild flower he had ever seen in his life and tall golden grasses that swayed gently in the calm wind. He heard birds singing in the trees and deer in the woods a little further on. This is weird, he thought, wasn't it supposed to be winter in New York. He then saw Ivy and her master in the field with a little girl. He realized Ivy was glowing like a firefly glows in the dark, she must be the one doing this, it was pretty cool.

"Aah, James, you're here," the man said bowing; Ivy did also here eyes on her shoes. Seth felt weird, why did people always bow to James?

"Yes Jack, I'm here and I see you have the little girl too." Seth looked at her and couldn't help but think of how cute she was. She had gullible blue eyes and cute pudgy cheeks with two white blonde braids on her head. She was looking wide eyed at all the butterflies.

Why did they have this little girl here? Maybe she was Jack's daughter or something. James continued walking toward them and Seth followed obediently. Ivy was looking at him, relief in her eyes, he smiled weakly at her, although Seth felt like collapsing and falling into a deep sleep.

James and Jack were talking quietly to each other, when the little girl began rushing toward him and saying, "Sethy!" It was then he realized who it was, it was his adopted sister, Annie. He hadn't seen her in so long that she had gotten taller and older looking.

"Annie!" he said in shock. Annie ran so fast and soon she was in Seth's arms. "I've missed you Seth, where've you been? Mommy grew so worried and then these scary men came and took us away. Mommy said that they would help us, then we got separated. Oh Sethy, I'm scared."

Seth was feeling so happy; he had missed her so much. "It's going to be alright, Annie," he said hugging her harder. "Okay Sethy," Annie complained, "You don't have to hug me so hard." Seth pulled away from her, "Sorry, I've missed you so much too!" At this moment a much more different voice cut through the air, "Oh that's so sweet," James said with fake sugariness, "Older brother misses younger sister."

Seth stood up and glared at James, "You better not hurt her, or I swear I'll kill you." James smiled at this, "Such an empty threat, how are you planning to kill me, when you can't even touch me." All the happiness that was in him was suddenly gone, replaced with fear for Annie. "I would figure out something," he said weakly.

"Sethy, I'm scared, I want to go home." He saw Annie was shaking; he quickly picked her up, "You're going to go home," he said as confidently as he could, "it's going to be alright."

"Sethy," said James, amused, "Cute name, maybe after I kill I will call you that," James said more sarcastically. Fear dropped like a stone in his heart. "What…..what are you talking about?" Although he already knew what he was talking about.

James smiled even wider, "Well, let's just say I'm not finished with your punishment and to make sure you don't run away again I'm going to kill, Annie." Seth nearly dropped her.

"Sethy what's that scary man talking about, take me away from here, I want to go home." He barely heard Annie say this, the only thing he heard in his head was James saying, 'I'm going to kill Annie. "It's a hard choice, isn't it," said James hurtfully, "But I'll give you ten seconds to say goodbye.

Seth fell to his knees. "An-Annie," he said shakily. But he couldn't say anything and only held onto Annie tight.

"Oh I'm so sorry you're times up," said James in the cruelest voice he had ever heard. James then gestured for the man to take Annie from his arms.

It was then he got his voice to work, "No, please!" he said desperately, "kill me, don't touch Annie, no please," he begged as he struggled to keep Annie in his arms, Jack punched him and he let go. James looked at him pitilessly, "I'm sorry, Seth," said James cruelly.

"Sethy, are they going to kill me?!" said Annie, now sobbing, "I don't want to die, please help me." Seth's heart broke, "Please," he pleaded desperately, "I'll do anything, just kill me instead," he felt hot tears beginning to run down his face, "please," he said sobbing.

James looked at him mockingly, "I'm sorry, remember it's your entire fault this is happening," he said taking out his gun. "Sethy!" Annie cried, "Help me!" Without thinking, Seth began running toward her.

"Sethy, I-," Annie's cries stopped abruptly with a gunshot. He collapsed in shock. No, she isn't dead, he told himself, it fired the wrong way, and he missed the shot. He looked up and saw Annie dead on the grass and a bullet hole in her head with blood soaking onto the ground and…… and. Sobbing took hold of him.

He was aware of voices around him, but he didn't hear them, the only thing he heard was Annie's voice, saying 'Sethy help me!' He sobbed harder and felt anger like he had never felt before. He saw James was talking to Jack. Seth went over to him, just wanting to strangle him, hurt him, kill him or do something that made him feel sorry. Seth tried to hit and kick James, but he didn't land a single blow and only got his hands tied behind his back.

James stroked Seth's unruly black hair, "She's gone Seth, face the truth." He would have fallen to his knees if James hadn't been holding him. "Shh, Seth, relax, you need to relax," said James gently and then he felt the sting of the shot in his shoulder. He began to feel drowsy and soon he was thankful for the blackness that over took him.

Chapter 8

When he awoke, he saw he was in another white room, but he wasn't chained to anything. There was no bed so he was lying on the cold floor. He shivered and then it hit him, Annie was dead, grief overtook him. He put his head in his hands and started sobbing, The Society had broken him, he wanted to die for it was his fault she was dead. Seth sobbed and sobbed until there were no tears left. He then sat against the wall thinking of how it was his entire fault that she was dead and then murderous thoughts began reeling in his head to destroy The Society. He thought of the most horrible deaths for all of The Society members, he would choke them, shoot them, burn them alive and then more tears would come after this because he was afraid of what he was becoming.

The door opened a few hours later to reveal James. He supposed he should be afraid of him, but all he wanted to do was kill him. Seth stood up shakily and James took the Purifier out of his pocket and wacked his leg with the whip that came from it. It coiled around his leg and soon he was thrown to the floor and dragged to James's feet.

"You look like you had a great night," James said his eyes gleaming with enjoyment. Seth struggled to get up, but the Purifier forced him to stay on the ground. "Get…get away from me, or kill me, either one is good with me." For one moment James looked at him with sympathy, but as quickly as he had seen it, it was gone, replaced by a cold mask.

"Look at me Seth," he said quietly, "Just look at me. I want you to know that you're the one that ran and now look at the consequences." Angry tears ran down Seth's face and he quickly wiped them away, "But why Annie," he said wretchedly, "what did she do? She was three years old!"

James looked at him unemotionally, "You'll forget her soon," James murmured, "but will remember her enough not to do this again, after you're all mine for your whole life, which is a very long time." James then pressed the button on the Purifier.

It was like being zapped with hundreds of volts of electricity in every part of his body. He screamed and tried to get away, but the Purifier didn't let him. He screamed and screamed until he couldn't anymore. It hurt so much and he just wanted to die. Why couldn't he die? Wasn't it supposed to be easy to just die?

When James thought he had had enough of torturing him, he uncoiled the Purifier from around his leg. Seth gasped and began sucking in air frantically. James knelt next to him and picked him up like a baby. He couldn't struggle because he was too weak, so he let James carry him to where he was going.

James's arms, he realized, were layered in muscle, he could feel it as he carried him. He thought about his own once muscular arms that were now skinny and bony. Oh, he wanted to go back to his old life where the only pain you felt was you're girlfriend breaking up with you. He knew he could never go back to that life again.

James brought him to a room where all The Society people were. It was a big room sort of like an amphitheater. They were all sitting on big metal benches. How big was The Society headquarters? It at least had to be five miles long with all the rooms they had in it.

Seth could feel all their gazes on him as he was dumped to the floor. Seth curled into a ball and tried to cover all the wounds and pain on him. He saw James was handcuffing him to a railing next to a podium. After James had securely tightened the chain on the rail he whispered in his ear very softly, "Don't worry, there won't be any more torture in a while." James got up and went to stand on the podium.

"I'm glad you all could come today," he said his voice full of authority and persuasion, "As you know I talked with the President a few weeks ago, and he has agreed that people with abilities should, from now on, be locked up or killed. We now have legal permission to do this," he paused waiting for the information to sink in, "So we need to gather all these people who have been caught and who have not and do what we want with them. Most of them, we will take their power and let them die, others," he said looking at Seth, "Will serve us and only us, not the general public anymore." Everybody in the room began cheering and James put his hand up for silence. "Of course we have to figure out the people we want to keep and the people we shouldn't. I would like to put a team together to figure this out. I want capable people to do this," he paused looking around the amphitheater, "Eric, Liana would you do this?" They both nodded and everybody clapped for them.

Seth was shivering. No they couldn't do that! And what did they mean that they would take their abilities away from them, that was impossible. Seth crossed his arms around his stomach and felt like retching. He looked around for Ivy and saw her with Jack (like usual) looking horrified. He had to stop this, but he didn't know how.

Eric and Liana had gotten up and said in formal tones, "We will do this service with honor,'' and then they bowed. James nodded in assent, "Good, now I want people everywhere, disguised as taxi drivers, cooks, waiters, movie stars and so on, find them and bring them Home." The Society people cheered loudly and James said through all the noise, "This meeting is adjourned."

As everybody was leaving the amphitheater, Seth saw that Jack and Ivy were making their way toward James, "Amazing how much progress we can make in a few thousand years," said Jack smiling as he came closer. James smiled coolly, "Yes," he said carefully, "Tell me Jack, where were you yesterday with that girl?" Jack looked stunned for a moment, "Um….I……I was checking on some ability people I was experimenting on." James looked sad for a second and then glared at him with terrible eyes, "I was looking at all the experiment rooms last night and you weren't in any of them, but don't lie to me anymore. You know I don't like it when my people hang out with woman."

Jack looked scared and took out his gun in a blur, "How….how did you find out," he stuttered with shock pointing the gun at James. James looked calmly at Jack and the gun, "I know everything, especially when you're gone from the building hours at a time." Jack, looking horrified, clicked the gun and shot it at James, but James merely sidestepped away from the bullet and took out his own gun serenely. Jack, seeing this, looked absolutely terrified.

"I'm sorry Jack," said James mercilessly, "You have been really useful, but I can't stand traitors." Jack was shaking, "Please," he pleaded, "I know you're going to kill me, but don't hurt her." James laughed scornfully, "You think I'm going to kill you right now? No, that's a little too painless, don't you think? No, I'm first going to kill you're woman, you're dogs, destroy everything about you and then make a public execution in front of everybody in The Society. How does that sound?"

Jack looked shocked, "No, no James, please I'm your friend," he begged, "You wouldn't do that, would you?" James rolled his eyes looking irritated, "Apparently, you don't know me enough." Out of blind fear Jack took the gun in his hand and put it to his head, about to commit suicide. But James was too fast for him and shot Jack on the hand that was holding the gun. Jack screamed and dropped the gun in pain. James then shot him on both of his legs in one fast motion.

"Just to make sure you don't run away," said James cruelly as Jack started screaming and sobbing on the ground. James, looking very bothered, took out his phone and told someone to put Jack in cell 14. They came a minute later and took the now half dead Jack to the cell. Seth looked at Ivy, she looked rather green. He wanted to go to her and comfort her for seeing that awful scene. James looked at Ivy also, "Let me guess, he didn't experiment on you." Ivy didn't say anything and looked petrified from fear.

"I'll take that as a no," said James, running a hand through his short black hair, "I didn't realize Jack had a soft heart." Ivy looked at James fear in her eyes, but a tint of bravery too, "He didn't want to because he said I had suffered enough pain already."

James looked at her pitilessly, "Yeah, well, I'm not that nice, so I'm sorry you're going to Hell." Seth felt a burst of anger flare up in him, James was so evil it wasn't fair "She already is in Hell," he said barely getting it out of his mouth, he then started coughing horribly. James seemed slightly surprised he had talked, "That's true, Seth, and I have seen this ability before, and maybe I'll just kill her." Seth's eyes grew wide in horror, "NO!" he cried before more coughing overtook him.

"No," said James quietly, "there is so much defiance in you, I like that, and it makes you harder to break. But no I won't kill her…… yet." Relief surged through him. "Hey!" said James looking at one of The Society's servants mopping up the floor. The servant looked fearful of James, "Take this girl to cell 3." The servant nodded and then tripped over his own feet as he put down his mop. Ivy didn't struggle as the servant came over and took hold of both of her arms. He bowed to James, looking at the floor, and led her away quietly.

Seth couldn't seem to stop coughing, he needed water badly. James didn't seem to notice his coughing and only unhooked his handcuffs from the rail. He started coughing even harder, "Well Seth," said James, "what should I do with you, I'm debating." James seemed to think it was fun to see him in pain every few minutes because he was now taking the arm that he had shot a bullet in and broken with his foot and was now squeezing it painfully. Right now, Seth just wanted to kill him. James forced him up and made him walk.

Every step was horribly painful and he soon collapsed on floor. James looked extremely annoyed and was about to kick him when he heard the most beautiful voice he had ever heard. It was laced with sadness and love and Seth's heart started speeding up when he heard that heart-breaking song. The words were almost as beautiful and as sad as the singer's voice,

"There are children standing here,

Arms outstretched into the sky,

Tears drying on their face,

He has been here,

Brothers lie in shallow graves,

Fathers lost without a trace,

Since he's been here.

And I see no bravery,

No Bravery, in their eyes anymore,

Just sadness and pain,

Houses burnt beyond repair,

The smell of death is in the air,

A woman weeping in despair says,

He has been here.

The song kept going on sad and lonely. James listened quietly; even he thought it was beautiful. When the song had ended with a sad note, James dragged him toward where he had heard the singer. When they came to the singer, Seth saw it was Rohan. He was chained on is neck, wrists and ankles to the wall of his cell. He had forgotten how beautiful he was; it seemed he looked even more beautiful when he was sad.

James opened the cell door and dropped him at his feet and looked at Rohan, "You never told me you had an amazing voice. Come; sing again, it was beautiful." Rohan glared at James, so much sadness and anger in his lovely eyes, "No, I would never sing for you by choice, you could probably force me, but never by choice." Seth was surprised at how insolent Rohan was toward James, no one else wanted to seem to stand up to him. Seth found he liked Rohan because of this. James, on the other hand, didn't like it.

"Tell me Rohan, how many family members have I killed or my people have killed?" You could instantly tell James had hit the soft spot in Rohan, for he started glowing brighter from his anger, "Why should I tell you!' he said fiercely. James shrugged, "I was only wondering, because you must have lost a lot considering that song you just sang."

Rohan struggled against the chains in fury, "You're an evil, cruel man and you deserve to die a million times. Oh, and you killed sixteen of my friends and family and just so you know, that's all of them." Seth felt bewildered, but James was the exact opposite, he was actually smiling in enjoyment, "Sing me a song,' he said again, "Or," he took out his gun and pointed it at Seth.

Rohan looked at his chained hands and looking very depressed began singing another song. This one was even sadder, and was a song of love, peace and eventually death. Rohan's voice was so beautiful that even James had a moment of silence after the song. He then got up and went toward Rohan and knelt on the floor next to him and touched him gently.

"Stop touching me!" Rohan cried angrily and tried to move away from James. He didn't listen to him and stroked his angelic face, "You will sing for me every time that I have time for you to sing, understand, or my fingers just might slip and I'll kill some more people, just because you wouldn't sing for me." James got up and motioned for Seth to do the same. He knew better than to defy him and with much pain, got up. He now realized why Rohan was so sad, he couldn't imagine losing all of his friends, and he didn't know how he could live with himself.

They left the cell and walked about a quarter of a mile down the hallway of the headquarters to another room. In it was a journalist he used to see on T.V. all the time. She had short, fake blond curly hair, blue eyes and was of medium height and her name was Ellen. He wondered what she was doing in the room.

"You'll never get away with this," said Ellen, when they had walked in the room. James smiled evilly, "Who says I can't? Besides I'm not the one who's killing you." Seth felt a sinking feeling in his stomach when he heard this. James turned to him, "I assume you know about Ellen, well she has found out a little too much about what we do here at The Society. So we're going to kill her." James took out his gun, "Or, I should say, you're going to kill her."

Seth felt sick and looked at the steel floor under his feet and shook his head in horror, "No, I can't just kill somebody, especially an innocent person!" he paused, "I'm not like you." James looked at him smoothly, like he expected this reaction, "Come now, Seth, it's not that hard. All you do is pull this notch right here," he said showing him a tiny curved bar shaped thing on the back of the gun, "Point the gun at whom you want to kill and pull the trigger and their gone."

Seth was still shaking his head and coughed really hard. How did James expect him to just kill someone, he had been taught, like most sane people, not to kill unless under dire circumstances. James sighed in annoyance, "Seth, Seth, Seth, you should know by now what happens when you defy me, I'll give you one more chance." Ellen was looking at James, "Just let it go James," said Ellen with surprising calmness, "he doesn't want to do it." Right after she said that, James pulled the trigger and a bullet flew into her leg. She let out a gasp, but surprisingly didn't scream. He could see the blood begin soaking into her white silk pants and making a red stain on them.

James pulled his cell out of his pocket, dialed a quick number and waited a few seconds before he said three words, "Bring her in." James put his cell back in his pocket and looked at Ellen with pleasure. A few seconds later, his adopted mother was brought in. She looked terrible, the once slim, strong woman was now gaunt and terribly pale, her brown eyes had lost their brightness and her hair was a complete mess. He knew exactly why James had brought her in there.

"What did you do to her?" he said in horror. James ignored his question, "Kill the journalist, Seth, or I kill your mom," he said cruelly. Barely thinking, Seth took the gun from James's hand and shot Ellen in the head in less than a second. Ellen slumped and fell to the floor, blood gushing out of her forehead, and died.

He dropped the gun right away, shocked by what he had just done, and fell to his knees. James was right; it was easy to kill……so easy. He started coughing even more horribly. James was laughing, actually laughing with enjoyment, "Well, well Seth, you're a natural at killing, maybe I should make you do this all the time." Seth was afraid to look at his mother, but he did. He saw shock and disbelief on her face, and also, was that relief."

"Mom," he said quietly, "I'm sorry….so sorry." He was surprised there were no tears on his face. James walked over to him, "Oh no, you're not talking to her." His mother looked at him, unbearable sadness in her eyes. He suddenly wanted her to comfort him and say everything was just an illusion or a bad dream, but he knew that would never happen.

James forced him to follow him out and he did. It still hadn't hit him that he had killed someone, but it eventually did and then he had to stop and retch what he had left in his stomach. James had looked at him calmly, as if he knew that he would do that.

They then came to the same room that he had woken up in, James pushed him in. He fell in a heap on the floor. "I should be torturing you, for your actions today, but you're lucky I liked your performance today." James looked down at him and took out another kind of gun from his belt and began to twirl it in his fingers, "You didn't even hesitate to kill her, you just did it and not to mention did a beautiful job of it too. Learned a lot by how I did it, didn't you."

Seth looked away from James and his terrible praises. James knelt next to him, "You'll make a great apprentice," he said softly, "There's so much I could teach you." James then put a finger under his chin and forced him to look in his eyes. "Would you like that, to be my student? It's not that you have a choice anyway. The good thing is you'll learn everything fast because of your ability." Seth trembled under his touch and James took the gun in his hand and shot him in the calf. He cried out as his ankle bone shattered by the impact of the bullet. He bit his lip to keep from screaming, but he couldn't help letting out a moan. Blood began spreading in a dark puddle around his leg.

"H-how can you l-live with yourself?" Seth said shakily, "Killing and torturing. Surely there must be some feelings in that cold heart of yours." James eyes had a sudden faraway look in his eyes as he took something else out of his belt (he seemed to have a million weapons in it) it was a shot. "Seth, in the future, I would appreciate it if you don't talk about that stuff around me." He then took the needle connected to a narrow tube of blue liquid and shot it into his arm. Seth gasped as a cold liquid seeped into his arm and soon his whole body felt frozen as if he had went swimming in Antarctica.

Chapter 9

He awoke in a very comfortable bed and to the sound of voices. "Yes, James, take it easy with him, he's had a long few days, unless, of course, you want to kill him." James shook his head, "No I'm not planning to kill him, in fact I want him to become my apprentice." Diane smiled, "So, you finally found-." She stopped seeing him awake.

Seth let out a groan, he felt terrible. Every part of his body was radiating with pain. Diane smiled at him and came over with James right behind her. "How are you feeling?" She said with surprising gentleness. He couldn't help but moan, "Horrible," he said in a coarse voice. "You sound horrible enough," said James icily. Diane glared at him and James bowed, "Sorry," he murmured. She then took a vial of some blue liquid out of the front pocket of her skinny jeans. "Here drink this. It must have been hard to lose your sister like that, but James can be a little impractical." Seth wondered what she was doing here, it didn't make sense.

He looked at the vial and decided it would be better if he just drank it. He took it and drank, he almost immediately spat it back out again. It tasted horrible, like cow liver mixed with dog guts. "Blah, gross, just gross." Diane started laughing and he began to feel angry, "Was that a trick?!" he said hoarsely. Diane stopped laughing and looked at him, amused, "No it wasn't, but I agree, it tastes nasty, but I've never seen such a reaction to the stuff." Seth looked away from Diane and James and began feeling drowsy. He guessed that some of the stuff had gone down his throat. Without really thinking, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

The next few days felt like eternity. Every day he was forced to drink that horrible blue liquid, he had no idea what it did, but it seemed to make him worse then he already was. Every day he fell asleep he would wake up screaming, having horrible nightmares of killing and Annie and Ellen always seemed to be in them.

One time he was actually given real food, a plate of spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread. He was half starved and ate the food so fast; wanting the hunger to stop and loving the taste of food he hadn't eaten in so long. He had vomited up a few minutes later because his stomach was shocked by so much food so fast. He should have known that that would have happened.

Seth also noticed how much his body had changed; he had grown three inches and started feeling stronger and faster. James also made sure he was never bored. He would give him many books and was basically forced to read them. He never really liked reading and he always had better stuff to do. But now that he had time he found the books were actually interesting. The books James gave him didn't just include weapons and warfare; he also included many other subjects like history, fiction, geography, science and many others. The cool thing about his ability that everything he read he remembered. He never forgot one thing.

"Seth had been learning very well, I'm surprised," said James carefully. Diane was writing, her hand swishing over the papers so fast that it was a blur. "I'm not surprised at all," she said concentrating on what she was writing, "His power makes him very bright and a readiness to learn, he will make a great student and when his training is done will be very useful for both of us."

James was looking at Diane's hand as she wrote, "Do you think he's the one? He's certainly changed a lot than when I had first caught him. He was a spoiled brat and now look at him," James said easily. Diane looked up from her writing, "Are you getting attached to him?" she asked coldly. James took a step back, shock written all over his face, "You've got to be joking, attached to him, never." He walked over to the door, "I'm going for a run," he said quickly. Diane stopped writing and stood up, "Be careful James, getting attached only leads to bad luck."

James paused by the door, "Diane, you think I'm attached to the boy? Me? Be careful of what you say." He then left. Diane had to admit he was right, James attached? Now that was something that would never happen.

One hundred and fifty second pushup, he told himself, feeling the sweat rolling down his face, only forty eight more to go. One hundred and fifty third……he gasped, come on, he told himself, if he didn't do this then the Purifier would torture him.

James wanted to exercise him to death, and if he didn't do the killer exercises he would be tortured, which would you pick? Just this morning, he made him run twenty miles. Sure he had seen plenty of marathon runners in the Olympics, but James was a thousand times faster than them. Yes, James ran with him, but every time he caught up to James's pace, he would go even faster. He almost fainted after that run. It was a sprint of twenty miles, what did you expect!

One hundred and seventy eight, he thought as he panted. It didn't help that James kept telling him to go faster and lower. He nearly collapsed at one hundred and ninety and then, yes! Two hundred! He collapsed on his back in the grass, panting like a dog. His arms weren't going to feel great tomorrow. Today he couldn't even feel them. He also badly needed water, his throat felt as dry as sand paper. It wasn't like he was terrible at pushups; he had been the best at his school, now he knew why, of course. But what James was making him do was Hell. He looked around; it looked to be almost spring. There was no snow and there were clear blue skies, the grass was still an ugly brown though.

James was looking at him coolly, "Again," he said. Seth looked at him in disbelief, "Again," he managed to pant out, "You……must……be …..joking!" James sure didn't look like it and in fact, to support his point, he stepped on his hand; Seth screamed in pain and brought his now broken hand to his chest.

"Oh, I'm not joking," said James cruelly, "Again." Seth tried to move his fingers, but couldn't because it hurt too much. James had stepped on his hand on purpose, just so that a few broken fingers will make it a ton of a lot harder. He took a deep breath and forced his now sore and hurting body into pushup position. Hell! Did his hand hurt and he just had two hundred more pushups to go. The first pushup was agonizingly painful, his hand was hurting terribly and doing pushups didn't help. He couldn't help but let out a moan, one hundred and ninety nine to go. He didn't even make it to fifty before he collapsed; there was no way he could do that many pushups with a broken hand and of how exhausted he was.

James was looking at him angrily, "What are you doing?!! Get up and start over, now!" Seth moaned and tried to get some words through his impossibly heavy mouth, "I…..can't," he gasped out. James was looking at him as if he couldn't wait to kill him, "Tell me, you unworkable boy, what I told you if you don't do as I say. Now what did I say? Say it!" Seth was beginning to feel sick, it hurt too much, everything hurt too much.

"You….told…me...to…do….two….hundred…pushups," he barely panted out. James knelt next to him and pulled out the Purifier, "Yes," he said softly, "now I suggest you do them." Seth looked at the Purifier, afraid and started them again. He got up to one hundred and fifty before he fainted.

He was woken up a few minutes later, James was holding a bottle of water, "Drink," he said calmly. Water, his mind thought blearily, he needed that. James forced a only a little bit of it down his throat at a time.

Seth groaned and managed to whisper, "Do I have to do them again?" James smiled evenly at this, "No, boy, I think that's enough for today." Relief sagged through his body; all he wanted to do was fall into a deep sleep and never wake up again. More water was poured down his throat, but this time it wasn't water, he fell asleep.

He woke up screaming, just a dream, he told himself as he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, just a dream. Today was the worst dream he had had yet. Instead of James killing Annie it was him with the gun, shooting her in the head. The dream was still fresh in his mind and he could still feel the cold gun in his hand, the sound of the bullet hitting flesh and Annie's dead face. He put his head into the pillow and sobbed quietly. When he had got a grip of himself he got out of bed and went towards the sink that was in the room.

He splashed water onto his face and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked awful; there were horrible black dots under his eyes from lack of sleep and physical/mental exhaustion. His cheeks were sunk in and he was way too thin, he hadn't had any food since the spaghetti, but even that hadn't gotten down. The exercising didn't help either. Now he wasn't just hurt all the time, he was also extremely sore; he could barely walk, let alone run all those miles that he was supposed to. He had no idea how he managed to.

When he got back to his bed there was food on the floor, he quickly took the tray of food and bit into the French toast with his hands. He told himself to eat slowly and he did. He realized he couldn't even finish half of it. Before when he was famous, that food would have been a small snack, now he could barely finish half of it.

Seth lay on his bed and wondered where his mother as. He never had an adopted father. It was only mom taking care of him and…….Annie. She always managed to keep up and found a good job. He realized now that she had spoiled him like crazy. He got everything she could afford for him and nothing for herself. The only thing she wouldn't let Seth do was make friends or go to school. She had homeschooled him and finally when he was thirteen let him go to school. Seth didn't know why she suddenly let him out, he guessed she loved him too much and she couldn't help but give him his wish to be with other kids. When he first came to the junior high, he was slightly shy because, basically the only people he had seen in his life was his mom. But he soon rose to the top, became very popular and started a band. Seth barely talked to his mother for years and always stayed at his friends' house. Sure, he gave her loads of money that he earned from being a famous band and visited her once in a while, but they never talked and he would only really play with Annie.

He now felt really guilty at not spending enough time with her. He realized now that she was protecting him from The Society. He just wanted to hug her and tell her he was so sorry, but he knew, in his heart, that that would never happen. He wasn't sure if he would even see her again.

About an hour later the door opened and in came Diane. He saw she had put sparkly purple eye shadow on with hot pink lipstick. He had to admit, it looked good on her. She was also wearing a glimmering purple dress that was tight around her upper body, but flared out at the bottom. She was apparently going to a party or something. She threw some clothes at him and he caught them. It was white button down shirt, black pants and some well polished black shoes.

"Here, put these on," she said impatiently. Seth looked awkwardly at the clothes, he normally wouldn't wear something like that, but it didn't look like he had much of a choice. He took off his shirt and felt very self conscious as she stared at him. The only thing she said was, "You're too skinny, James should feed you more." After he had changed she threw him a brush.

"Here, brush your hair, it's a mess." He took the brush and wondered where they were going as he pulled through all the knots in matted hair. Eventually his hair felt decent and Diane took some metal cuffs out, "I need those?" he asked in disbelief, "You don't think I'm going to escape, do you?"

Diane smiled calmly as she grabbed his wrists and put the cuffs on them, "You'll know why," she merely said. He looked at the cuffs and saw they were attached to a chain, he sighed as she tugged on the chain and was forced to follow her.

He saw they went through many hallways and up many stairs before they came to two huge metal doors. In front of these doors he suddenly felt really weak, like all the energy was drained out of him. That's weird, he thought, there must be something in those doors that made people with abilities weaker. He saw James was standing in front of them, looking at his watch and tapping his foot impatiently. When he saw them, he gestured for them to hurry up. "Where've you been?! We're late enough as it is."Seth saw he was looking nice also, his hair was greased slightly and he was wearing a black tie and coat with black pants and a white shirt. He wondered where were they going?

"James, calm down," said Diane calmly, "We would have been here earlier if it hadn't been for his hair, it was a complete mob and took a long time." James looked like he was about to say something else, but thought better of it and only bowed to her, "Of course," he said courteously and with a hint annoyance. "Let's go."

Diane literally had to drag him through the huge metal doors, he could barely stand he was so weak. "Did… you……put ….some….absorption…on…the…..doors….or……something," Seth said weakly. Diane looked at him, but James answered him, "Yes, they are special doors; it just makes it harder for you guys to escape." Seth looked away from James, there was no way anybody could escape from this place.

When they were away from the doors he felt a lot better and could now walk. He saw with amazement that they were leaving the headquarters. Yes, he thought, he hadn't been out in such a long time. It was snowing, oh how he missed the snow, though it barely snowed in New York City. The big fluffy flakes were glittering like stars as they fell to the ground. His friends and him would probably having a snowball fight right now. He felt a lump in his throat and he swallowed hard.

They walked about a half a mile before they came to a black limo. Diane opened the door of the car and forced him in and hooked the chain to the handle of the car. When they were all in the driver pressed on the gas pedal and they went. He'd never thought he'd think it, but it felt good to be in a limo again. He looked out the window and looked at all the cars, taxis, and buildings of New York City. They passed the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge and soon they were in Times Square. Everything was beautiful and he didn't want to go back to The Society headquarters, but he knew he didn't have much of a choice.

When they were in Times Square, he saw the usual plays and show advertisements like Phantom of the Opera, Billy Elliot, Wicked, Lost, Good Morning America and so on. The only thing different were the advertisements of people with abilities. Instead of the usual advertisements of buy an ability person for just one hundred thousand dollars (which is by the way very cheap) they said: If you have suspicions of people who might have an ability, contact us. It said we were dangerous creatures and we needed to be handled by professionals. There were so many of these signs, he wondered how The Society got all its money to do all this stuff, plus all those expensive weapons they have.

"Lovely isn't it," said James, seeing him looking at all the signs angrily, "Now if they are even suspicious of person, we will know about it." Seth looked away from the window and at James, "There's nothing lovely about it," he said quietly, "Surely there must be people against this." James looked at him with amusement, "Oh there is, but we take care of them."

He shivered at what James said of 'We take care of them.' Seth shifted his wrists uncomfortably, the cuffs really bit into his skin, and it was rather annoying. Why couldn't he just be normal, then none of this would be happening to him, or at least have a really weak ability like changing his eye color or something, those ability people were the only ones you could get for only one hundred thousand dollars. But no, he was not normal; he was a freak, a copycat. So now he was forced to live through this torture and see his friends and family die. Be forced to kill innocent people, when he wanted to help. He wasn't a killer before, but now he knew he could easily become one.

They arrived at their destination thirty minutes later. It was a concert building, he had sung once in it and it was a little too fancy for a rock concert and he didn't really like it. He saw many fancily dressed people going in, this must be something big, he thought, as he saw the President of the United States go in with the first lady.

When the limo stopped, Diane unbuckled her seat belt and unhooked the chain that was attached to his cuffs from the handle. When she was done they stepped out of the limo and he nearly smacked into a reporter. He saw reporters were all crowding around then an one was talking to James, "What do you do with all these ability people that have started coming in huge numbers now?"

James smiled and answered easily, "We help them," he said simply, "We're working on a formula that can help these poor people, but so far we have had no luck." Seth was stunned at how good James was at lying, if he didn't know better he would have believed him right away. Another reporter came and put a microphone to James, "How is the situation with these people? Are they giving you much trouble or are they doing as they are told?" James was still smiling and looking at the camera as he said, "There are of course some people, who are giving us a little trouble, but we handle them easily and with care, but for the most part they're doing as their told. Now if you'll excuse me I'm late," he said squeezing through the mishmash of reports. All the reporters soon began talking all at once and Diane pulled him, with much struggling, toward the building."

When they finally came to the door, some security people in suites stopped the reporters saying, "No reporters allowed in here." They allowed James, Diane and him in and he was instantly shocked at how much the building had changed since he had been there. The stage was now decorated with glittering stars and strings of silver beads were strung across the bottom of the stage. To the left of the stage was a huge buffet table with many different kinds of food. The rest of the room was filled with round tables and chairs with white table clothes. In the middle of all the tables were large glittering lamps that were shaped like stars.

Diane then pulled him so hard on the chain that he nearly stumbled. They then went to the tables' right in front of the stage and right to the left of him was the President of the United States of America. James and the President were shaking hands, "Nice to see you again, James. Please, take a seat," he said gesturing to a seat to the right of him.

"Thank you, Mr. President," said courteously, "May I introduce some people I brought, this is Diane." Diane curtsied and smiled a ravishing smile, "Pleased to meet you Mr. President. I have worked with James for many years on people with abilities and we have always had a fascination for them."

Seth realized they were both astonishingly good actors. He wished he could just tell the President that everything they had said was a lie. He was tempted, but something in him told him that that wasn't such a good idea.

"And this is Seth," continued James a little more coldly, "I decided he would be good to present to our audience today, I will also make him perform some of his ability to show how dangerous these people can be." The President nodded at this and motioned for Diane to bring Seth closer. James was looking at him, he was basically saying if you say something you're not supposed to, you're dead.

"Are all of these ability people this pretty, or should I say beautiful," said the President taking the chain from Diane and examining him. Seth felt like an animal, locked up in a cage and felt very self conscious. James smiled and nodded, "Most of them are, but this one's a little more beautiful and different, when he is done with his performance you will understand.

Seth looked at James in confusion, "What performance?" he blurted out without thinking. Oh damn, why did he just say that. James's gaze was suddenly very cold, "You shall see, Seth." The President looked away from Seth for a moment, "He doesn't know what he's performing?" James nodded slowly, "I assure you, it's something he knows very well." The President then gave the chain to Diane, "I have to admit, he seems familiar, have I seen you before?" he said to Seth.

James answered, "I'm sure he does seem familiar, he was famous for a few years, a rock star. Now Mr. President may we go into more important topics?" The President nodded absently, "Of course." Diane then forced him into a chair and she sat down also, keeping the chain in her lap. That's when he saw them, Jake, Evan and Michael. He couldn't believe it, why were they there they seemed confused and nervous. He tried to get up, but the chain prevented him. Diane saw who he was looking at and smiled, "Would you like to have a little chat with your friends?" she said so softly that the President couldn't hear her.

Seth wondered why Diane brought his friends here, he was slightly afraid, what if they were killed too. Just the thought made him sick. Diane then forced him up, "I'm hungry," she said more loudly, "Are you Seth?" She then forced him to move towards the food table. It was then that Michael saw him. He looked at Seth in disbelief, then turned to the other guys and pointed toward him. Seeing him, they made their way toward him.

Diane was smiling as they came over and whispered in his ear, "This is going to be fun." He shivered at this, and watched them come.

"Seth?! Is that you," said Jake in incredulity, "How-," but before he could finish his sentence, Diane cut him off. "I'm sorry, Jake, if you would like to talk to Seth, can we go into a different room, right here isn't the best place." All three of his friends nodded, "Of course," said Evan trying to be patient. Diane then led them toward the stage and right to the left of the stage was a door. She opened it and led them into a room. It was filled with all sorts of junk, from lights to soda cans.

Diane smiled a dazzling smile, and his friends could only look at her, dumbfounded. "I've some things to finish up, so if you don't mind, I'll just be a few minutes," she said hooking the chain holding him to a metal pole sticking out of the ground. Great, now he won't even be able to move. After doing this she left, closing the door behind her.

All four of them stood there in silence, before Michael spoke, "How come you never told us? I mean I thought, you know, that you we're just super popular because you were just like that. But apparently I was wrong, we only became famous because you decided to lie to us and let us believe that we're famous because of pure talent!" Seth looked at Michael in disbelief, "You think I knew I had an ability? I had absolutely no frickin idea, okay; I thought it was all of us, not just me that was getting us to the top. I'm sorry, okay; I wish that this never happened. But it did happen and I can't change that."

His friends looked wounded at this, "We always knew that most of the girls liked you the most," said Evan quietly, "But some of them liked us too, we just thought because you were the lead singer and that you were cuter to them that they chose you, not because of your stupid ability!" Seth was hurt by this, "Guys, I'm-," but Michael interrupted him, "Shut up, Seth, you're the one who's the freak here, none of the rest of us are! So there's no need to apologize that you're one."

Seth was angry and upset by what his friends were saying, "A freak," he said softly, "I guess you're right, that's who I am now, isn't it. So this is it then, I'm your frickin slave now, not your friend." He tried to step toward them, but the chain prevented him. He looked at his once best friends; Jake was the only one who didn't look angry at him.

"You're right Seth," said Evan coldly, "Get to your knees right now, we're of higher class then you now." Seth looked at the floor, stunned, "You've always supported the idea that people with abilities were being treated ba-," Evan interrupted him, saying, "I guess we've changed our minds now, freak. The Society's right, you people are dangerous and deserved to be locked up for all eternity and I hope they never invent any formula that takes away your ability without killing you, because you don't deserve it!!!" Evan walked toward the door and bumped him, hard on the shoulder and left the room, Michael followed him and soon it was just him and Jake.

"Seth," said Jake quietly, "I'm so sorry, nothing has been the same since you've left. I just thought they would be forgiving in front of you but….I guess not. I'm sorry." Jake then left also. Seth fell to his knees in shock; his friends had never been like that in his life. Something had to be wrong, just something. But his heart told him that everything they said they meant.

The door opened a few minutes later and Diane came in, "Oh," she said in a fake voice, "Where did everyone go?" She then went over to him and knelt next to him and took his face in her hands and forced him to look in her eyes. He struggled from her grip, but she was too strong, "Oh, poor Seth, has no friends, no family, he has no one. Unless you count James of course."

"Let go of me," Seth said shakily. Diane smiled and dug her long sharp nails into his cheeks, he cried out and Diane let him go. "You made them hate me, didn't you!" he said angrily, touching his cheeks and feeling blood. Diane shook her head, "No, Seth, they already do hate you because of what you are. Amazing, how humans hate us so, because were more beautiful, more physically better than them and not to mention smarter."

Seth looked at the floor, "So why did you bring them? To tell me that they hate me, well your plan worked really well."

Diane unhooked the chain from the pole and twirled it in a weird motion, he began to feel really weak, "I didn't invite your friends to tell you that they hate you, but I have to admit that it was nice of them to do that. No, I invited them, so they could play for your little concert tonight. The audience will be sure to enjoy it." Diane twirled the chain again and the weakness disappeared. She murmured a few words under her breath and instantly a guitar appeared in her hand. The weird thing was, was that it was his guitar, the one that was shaped like blue flames and decorated with skulls. He gasped in shock "How did you-?" But Diane interrupted him, "Never mind how I did it, just take it," she said impatiently. Seth stood up and took his guitar from her, happy he could see his guitar again, he had missed it. Before he had been captured it was basically his life.

"Now, what else do you need, a microphone?" Seeing he didn't have much of a choice about this performance, he nodded, "that's all I need, but I don't even know what I'm playing and my friends hate me? How do expect this to be a good performance?" he said.

Diane sighed, "I can tell why you drive James crazy, I just want to torture till you're crying for mercy, but unfortunately you have to be well enough to sing." Seth looked at the wall, slightly scared by this.

"You're used to be friends have already picked the song," she continued casually, "It's called Who You Are, and if you don't sing it good, Seth, James will have a not so pleasant surprise waiting for you." Seth listened to all this in silence, and strummed his guitar, relaxing as the beautiful notes rang out. Diane looked at him unemotionally, "Practice a little, and when it's time, I'll get you." With this she disappeared into thin air.

Relieved she was gone, Seth began playing the song. It felt good to play again, like a piece of him had been missing and now came back to him. He sang quietly and enjoyed himself; he soon was playing the most complicated song that was ever made for guitar. He should have known that he had an ability, after all, he had memorized this song just by hearing it. He thought that when he had memorized it that he had photographic memory and that at least some people in the world could do that.

About an hour later, Diane materialized in front of him; he jumped in surprise, "Damn! What was that for?" he said without thinking. She rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Go on, it's time for you to go perform," she said, taking his cuffs off his wrists. He rubbed them, trying to get some feeling back into them and picked up his guitar. Diane then pushed him toward the door; he stumbled and fell to the floor. He quickly got up and opened the door. He walked out and climbed the stairs onto the stage. His friends were there, Michael was on drums, and Evan and Jake were playing bass. They both had their stage faces on luckily, so weren't glaring at him.

He had never been nervous on stage in his life; it just seemed natural to him. So when he went up to the microphone, all he felt was a great deal of sadness and unhappiness. Then the drums started and he soon joined in with guitar, with Jake and Evan. He took a deep breath and soon began singing. Every time he sang, it felt like flying, like he was spreading his wings and being free. He felt like he could do anything and be anything. He felt it every time, even now, with Annie dead and the torture he had gone through, it was still the same feeling.

His voice rang over the crowd and he could feel the power in it. He knew he had captivated the audience right away. Soon all his worries had vanished and it was only him, his voice and his guitar. He sang and sang and in that moment he never wanted it to stop he just wanted it to go on forever and ever. It was then, almost at the end of the song that he saw James looking at him, he showed no emotion, but Seth remembered that he was forced to do this and not by choice.

He abruptly stopped singing and stopped playing his guitar, he couldn't do this anymore. The drums and bass guitars stopped also, seeing they had no singer. Seth was shaking his head, "I'm sorry I can't do this anymore," he sad to the audience. The audience seemed confused, and then when one clap rang in the silence and soon the whole crowd was cheering enthusiastically. Seth turned around at looked at his friends; he saw they were glaring at him. Michael had gotten up and shaking his head at him, left the stage, Evan soon followed him and then Jake.

Seth stood there for a few moments as the audience clapped and then two men came and grabbed both of his arms roughly and forced him off the stage. "Too bad you didn't finish the song," said one of the men holding him, "But I have to admit that that was an amazing performance. Probably the best one I've ever heard in my life." While saying this, the two men almost smacked right into James.

"I'll take it from here," James said forebodingly to the two men. The men nodded and pushed him to James and left. When James had seen them leave he, faster than a whip lash, pulled his head back by the hair. Seth cried out in sudden pain, and his eyes started to water, "Seth, Seth, It was a great performance, until you stopped," he said dangerously, tugging at his hair harder, "You're going to have another long night, aren't you." Seth gasped in pain and James let go of his hair. Seth shivered terribly.

Diane then came, "I'll put him in the limo, as you finish up," she said calmly. James nodded, "Good, now if you'll excuse me." James smiled at him callously and then left. Diane then took the cuffs in her hand and snapped them on his wrists and led him away from the building. She said nothing until they came to the limo, "Oh, Seth, it doesn't look good for you, does it?" She said as she forced him in the limo and hooked the chain onto the handle. Seth said nothing and merely looked out the window as the soft snow fell to the ground.

"Why did you stop? You looked like you were enjoying yourself." He still said nothing, and only looked at the dark sky. "Seth, look at me," she murmured and with some sort of magic, was forced to look at her straight in the eyes.

"You have to learn to eventually learn to start listening, if you don't the consequences will be dire, you understand." Seth tried to move, but was held in place by the magic she was creating. "Now," she continued, "Why did you stop?"

Seth was afraid of her, she could make him do anything she wanted him to do, "I….I had too," he finally managed to say and gathering some courage in him said, "You already know why anyway, so why do you ask?"

Diane smiled cruelly at this, "I can tell why James likes you. He likes things that, shall we say, don't break easily and when they eventually do, are in the worst pain of all." She moved closer to him and began stroking his face; he tried to move away, but was still held in place by the horrible magic. "You're like that aren't you? You just haven't broken yet."

Seth felt anger flaring up in him like fire, "Why do you do this? What do you want from James or even me? You like him, I see that, but he doesn't like you." Oh man, he thought, he said too much. But Diane looked amused, "You're on the wrong track, Seth." It was then he saw James walking through the snow, toward the limo and Diane released the magic from him.

James got in the car and quickly messed up his gelled hair. He apparently didn't like his hair nice and neat. The driver of the limo, seeing everyone, started the car and drove off, he guessed, to the headquarters.

"How did it go?" Diane asked. James looked at her, "Oh, besides Seth's mess up, everything went great. I convinced the people and the president for good and of-," he stopped and Diane nodded. Seth didn't know what they were keeping from him and he didn't care. But James didn't let him think by himself for long, "Well Sethy," Seth instantly felt such a burst of anger that he wanted the limo to crash, just so James could die. James smiled unkindly at him, "I didn't really like your performance today, maybe you can tell me why you stopped right in the middle, it was going so beautifully until then."

James then took the chain attached to his cuffs and twirled it in a different motion than Diane had done. It was like fire spreading from the cuffs into his body. He bit his lip to keep from screaming, but couldn't help but moan. James then pulled out a dagger. It looked old, sure, it was well polished and menacing, but it looked like it came from the 1500's. "Do you know what this is, Seth?" said James softly. He shook his head slowly, afraid. The dagger radiated something that made his heart flutter nervously and instinct told him to open the door of the limo and jump out.

"This is a special dagger, I got it from an old friend not so long ago, about, shall we say, a few hundred years ago. Back then, it was used to torture people with abilities, mainly because it only works on people with abilities." James twirled the knife, skillfully with his fingers, "the good thing about this dagger is that it doesn't kill the person it's torturing. In other words, it doesn't give them the pleasure of dying and only the person who can stop the person from being tortured is the person who does it in the first place," he paused, looking at Seth.

He was feeling sick, no, oh please no, he thought, "This dagger," continued James, "Takes the ability in a person and, you could say, tears it, makes the ability go out of control which makes the body in complete pain, because all the nerves are on full blast. The only vice about this dagger is that you go crazy if you use it too long on a person. Well…. not everything can be perfect."

James, seeing the fear on Seth's face said, "Oh, don't worry, I'll wait till we get out of this stupidly slow limo." With this he stood up (he wasn't wearing a seatbelt) and shot the driver straight in the head, took the wheel and moved the dead body of the driver to the seat next to him. James did all this in less than thirty seconds. Seth looked at all this in amazement, James was too good, he was so good it was scary. Immediately, the limo was going much faster. He looked at the speed dial, he was going at 180!

James was weaving around the cars expertly, he didn't know how someone could do that with a big giant limo, but it was happening. Seth also couldn't stop looking at the driver's body, with its wide open eyes and mouth open in shock.

"What are you going to say to the driver's family," he asked in horror. James did another turn with limo and without hesitating said, "Oh, I'll get someone to crash the limo and It'll just look like a tragic accident." Seth looked at the bullet in the driver's head, "What…..what about the bullet in his head?" he said shakily.

James sighed in displeasure, "You ask so many questions, and it's getting rather annoying," he paused and turned the car sharply to the left, "I'll get the person that's crashing the limo to damage the body so much, that no one will notice." Seth took a quick intake of breath and didn't say anything after that.

They came to the headquarters in a lot less time than before. A man was standing where James had parked the limo and James looked at him and gestured toward the car. The man nodded and went to go take care of it. Seth also noticed that Diane had disappeared again. He was glad for he had one less person to worry about.

James led him to the past the huge double metal doors and half dragged him to a plain grey room. Seth felt his heart skip a beat as James pulled out the dagger. The handle looked like it was made out of silver and there was a sea green gem on the pommel. It looked wickedly sharp, like it could slice metal. He had to admit, it was a beautiful weapon.

James then slammed him hard against the wall and held him there with his hand. He struggled from his grip, but it was useless. "Well Seth,' he said, raising the dagger, "This is going to hurt, and just so you're aware, I'm not going to let it stop for some time." James then took his arm and rolled up the white sleeve, up to his shoulder, revealing bare skin. By this time Seth was shaking violently.

James smiled, "Stay still Seth, this won't hurt as much if you do." Just then, he took the dagger and cut his arm from his elbow to his shoulder. He began to feel really dizzy, there was surprisingly know pain when James had cut him. James let go of him and he collapsed to the ground and fainted.

Chapter 10

He woke up in the worst feeling in his life. So of course he was screaming. He couldn't help but scream and scream. It soon turned to moans and convulsions. He was in the hospital part of the headquarters, but the hospital people couldn't help him, that was their orders.

It never stopped, the pain, it never dimmed either. Soon he was sobbing and begging for it to stop. James came in a few hours later looking amused.

"Oh Seth, I don't think you'll be disobeying me ever again, will you?" he said softly. Seth started begging, "Please, just let it stop, I'll do anything, please," he managed to say before more convulsions shook him. James stroked his convulsing body, "I'll make it stop when I believe you've learned your lesson," he said harshly.

Seth started screaming again. "Shh, shh," said James softly, "It'll be over soon, maybe I'll let it stop in a few hours from now," he laughed cruelly. Seth's eyes grew wide in disbelief at this, "No," he begged, "Let it stop now, oh please."

James stroked his sweating face, "I've never seen you beg before. It must really hurt," he stood up, "I don't usually use this dagger, I only use it for special occasions. Maybe I should use it more often on you." Seth's body began convulsing even more from the terrible pain and he sobbed, it hurt so much, like every part of him was on fire, with the heat a hundred times hotter. At least if you were burned alive you could die.

James went toward the door, "See you in a few hours." He then left. Seth had to endure this for a few more hours, how could anybody do that, why couldn't it just end.

When James came four hours later, Seth felt dead, he could barely breathe, he couldn't even moan now. James knelt next to him and took a tube of liquid connected to a needle and shot him on the arm with it. Soon the terrible agony was ending and he was falling into a blanket of warm blackness.

Seth woke up terrible exhausted and hurting everywhere, but at least it was over. He let out a moan and tried to move, the instant he did he cried out. Every bone in his body felt torn into a million pieces, like he had been ripped apart and someone had put him back together again and had didn't do it right. Seth saw he was in a different room than before, this one looked like a bedroom with comfy chairs and a desk."Someone just kill me," he moaned, "Oh please just do it."

"Why would we do that Seth," said a cold voice. The cold voice was James and he was walking over to him, "That would be too nice of me. Wouldn't it?" Tears came into Seth's eyes.

"Now let's see," said James looking at his exposed chest, "Looks like you'll have that scar forever," he said gesturing toward his arm. Seth glanced at his arm and saw the scar was shining red, like blood, although it wasn't blood. "What happened to it," he said shakily.

James knelt by the bed, "It's an effect that the dagger does. It makes the skin shine crimson because of the magic in the dagger. Don't worry, it usually stops being like that in a few thousand years."

"James, be nice, he's had a very rough night," said a woman voice. It was Diane. Why was she always here, she always made things worse. Today she was wearing violet skinny jeans, stiletto boots and a black silk top with large open sleeves at the end.

"Why should I be nice Diane, he's mine," said James as he took his arm. He bit his lip to keep from screaming, it hurt so bad. "James," she said commandingly, "Enough playing with him, he needs to heal." James dropped his arm and bowed, "Of course, I should be nice."

Seth started whimpering in pain and Diane also came over to him, "Relax, just relax, we're not going to hurt you for a long time," she said gently. He was forced to relax under her touch. James sighed at this and sat in one of the comfy chairs.

"Seth, are you going to do what I say now without any hesitation?" He didn't want to be tortured like that again, but he couldn't listen to James. He had to rebel even if it meant extreme torture. He wasn't going to become his puppet, ever.

"No," he said softly, "I won't." James closed eyes, "You're a tough one, fine then, it seems I have no choice." He stood up and went over to him. "James," said Diane in warning. James kept walking toward him, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt him," he said as he pushed Seth's hair to the sides of his face and put his head to his ear and whispered, "Unless you don't want your mother to die I suggest you start listening," he said calmly.

Seth's eyes grew wide in horror, and James stepped back, satisfied. "Now," he said louder, "I want you to drink this; you'll be asleep for a while, but when you wake up you'll feel better." James had taken a bottle from the bedside table and was pouring it into a plastic cup. He then forced the bitter liquid down Seth's throat. He almost immediately fell fast asleep.

When he woke up, he felt loads better. Well enough to stand up in fact. He yawned and sat up, looking around. No one was there, he relaxed and stood up. He went over to the desk and looked in all the drawers to see if there were any papers that could tell him something. He sighed, there was nothing.

"You're right, there is nothing there," said James, as if he had been reading his mind. Seth jumped and quickly closed the drawer that he had just opened. James smiled at his jumpiness.

"You look a lot better today. I'm not surprised the medicine usually works very well." Seth looked away from him, he was scared of him. What do you expect if you were nearly tortured to death by him and if he killed your three year old sister? He swallowed his fear, "So now what are you going to do to me?" he asked heatedly, "Throw me to the sharks? Make me kill my mom."

James looked at him with fake disbelief, "No, I wouldn't do those things, although the second option you said is certainly tempting." Seth looked at the ground; afraid he just might change his mind, and make him kill her somehow.

"Hey don't be afraid," said James with false gentleness, "I won't do that." He then moved closer and Seth quickly took a step back. "You know, you should stop trying to be nice, cause it's not working," said Seth.

James raised an eyebrow, "At least I tried, but since it's obviously not fooling you….," he paused, pulling something out of his pocket, it was a newspaper, "I guess I'll break it to you. Your mom, I'm sorry to say, died in a tragic car accident yesterday." Seth just stood there and it took a moment for it to sink in and then he was just numb with shock. His mom dead, no, it couldn't be true. It was then he realized what James had actually said when he had said, 'Unless you don't want your mother to die, I suggest you start listening.' What he actually meant was, you've already disobeyed me, so I get to kill your mother.

"No….you're lying!" he said, hoping he was, but knowing he probably wasn't. James looked at him with fake sympathy. "Oh, I'm not lying, here I'll prove it," he said taking the newspaper in his hand and threw it to him. Seth barely caught it and looked at the front page. It said Mariah Andrews killed in a terrible car crash. The newspaper fell from his hands and onto the floor and he felt to his knees in shock.

"How….How could you kill her? What did she ever do to you?" he said shakily. Silent tears ran down his face, but he quickly wiped them away. Seeing this, James knelt next to him and put his finger under his chin and forced him to look in his eyes.

"It's alright," he said mockingly, "She had a great death, I'll give you that, and it was fun to kill her. Do you want to hear her last words?" Barely knowing what he was doing he tried to punch James in the face, but he easily dodged it. He wanted to kill James, make him die a horrible death. He wanted to….to. So blind with anger he tried to hit, punch and kick him, but he didn't land a single blow.

"You…You deserve to die a million times, you deserve to get all the limbs in your body chopped off and then finally die and….and." By this time James had taken both of Seth's arms in a tight grip and put pulled them roughly behind his back. "And then what, Seth," he said quietly in his ear, "Drip me in poison even though I'm already dead, burn me? And when are you planning to do this?"

Seth shook horribly with anguish in James's hands. "Why?" he sobbed and suddenly feeling weak, "Why did you have to kill her too? So you could see me like this?" James pulled his arms tighter behind his back, he cried out, "Shh, Seth, calm down, I might let you see her body if you want." Seth sobbed harder when he heard this and James stroked his hair gently.

"It's alright, in a few thousand years you'll forget about her and that stupid little girl, what was her name again…? Oh yeah, Annie."

He looked at James in disbelief, "Why….why haven't you killed me yet? Do you want to see me suffer and then kill me? If you're going to kill me, please do it now." James smiled coldly at him, "You think I want to kill you?" He laughed cruelly, "Oh no, I would never kill you, you're just too much fun."

James then dropped him to floor and he fell in a heap. He curled up in a ball and sobbed. James knelt by him and said calmly, "When you have calmed down a little, we'll talk about some things, okay?" Seth merely crawled farther away from him and James left the room.

He sobbed harder and remembered how much he had hated his mom when he was a rock star, for not supporting him, helping him live his dream. She had spent hours arguing with him of how it was a bad idea and that he shouldn't live his life like that. Now he knew why, she was protecting him, she had known all along. She had always told him that people with abilities were people just like them and she taught him to rebel against The Society, to hate The Society. He remembered him asking so many questions of why he couldn't go to regular school, why he couldn't make any friends. Who his real mother and father were. She never answered any of those questions and now it was too late. He didn't know how long he cried on the floor, but soon all his tears were gone and all he could do was stare at the ceiling and think how much life sucks and hurts.

The door opened about a couple hours later revealing woman with some food, he didn't even look at her or touch the food. A few minutes later James came in, it looked like he had been at an important meeting again because he was dressed up.

"Have you finally calmed down, boy," he said. Seth just stared at the bed without seeing it. James looked at him evenly, expecting this reaction, "Before your mother died, she gave me this note to give to you. I've read it already and I'll be nice and let you read it." These words woke me up and he looked at James miserably. James took the letter out of his pocket and gave it to him, "You have five minutes to read it."

He looked at the letter, just staring at it, seeing his mother's familiar, neat curly handwriting. He then quickly opened it and it went like this:

Dear Seth,

You must understand that what I did was for a reason. If you had really been a normal boy I would have supported you in every way I could have. But I had to protect you, keep you safe from The Society. I knew what they would do to you. Make you something that I know you're not. I wasn't the best mother, I know, I spoiled you, and eventually let you do what you wanted. But you see, Seth, you were just like that, you knew how to get what you wanted and it wasn't all from your ability. That's not who you are, you are you, no matter what anyone tells you. In a way this was how you got captured by The Society, because of my carelessness.

I will already be dead when you get this letter, but Seth when you wouldn't talk to me for two years, I didn't know what to do. I noticed The Society was keeping tabs on you for a long time, but I kept telling myself they'll wait and now look where it has gotten you. When the Society saw I had hid you for a long time they captured me also and took Annie. I'm so sorry Seth, I couldn't do anything, I was powerless against them. We got separated and I never saw her again after that. I know how much you loved her.

When your parents gave you to me, they told me to give you a life. A life without the terror of being a person with an ability and being captured by The Society. I told them I would try. Your parents Seth, were amazing people and they would have kept you if they hadn't had the Society at their backs all the time. They didn't want you to live that kind of a life. I told them I would take care of you as best as I could and I tried Seth, but it just wasn't good enough.

Since I'm already dead I just want to say that the few years I have spent with you were the best years of my life and I want you to know that there is hope. You're probably wondering who your parents even are and I'm sorry, but it is best if I don't answer that question. My time is running short and I would say more.

I love you,

Mom

You already know that everything I read I remember. So when I had read it, it kept playing in his mind over and over again. She basically said nothing I wanted her to say or anything I didn't already know. She didn't even tell him who his parents were. But still, the letter brought a mix of emotions in him and he had to ask James one question.

"Do you know who my parents are?" he said despondently. James looked at him coolly and went over to the tray of food. "I knew your parents, I knew them very well. One of them is……dead though and the other is right here in The Society."

Seth listened to this quietly; grief was not making him think right. "Now Seth," James said, picking up the tray of food, "I would like you to eat something." Seth looked at the food feeling sick, eating was the last thing on his mind, and how did James expect him to eat right after his mother died? As much as he wanted to kill James, he knew he had to be patient and wait for the right time (even though there was probably never going to be a right time).

Seeing that Seth wasn't listening, James took the Purifier from his belt and knocked him to the floor. He struggled to get up, but James didn't let him. "It's so nice to see that your mother loved you so dearly. You want to know how she died?" He felt himself grow weaker under the Purifier and he was forced to listen to James.  
"I tend to take my time when I kill someone that causes me much trouble. So the first thing I did was shoot her in the leg and then in the other leg. Since she was just a mere human, it hurt her much more than it would have hurt you. After doing this, I…." he stopped looking at Seth's shaking body. "Fine, I'll stop, I forgot how much mommy's mean to their sons."

He then did the motion to get the whip back in the Purifier and let him stand up. James then took a piece of bread from tray and said, "Now, I'll give you two choices, you eat this by yourself or I force it down your throat."

Seth looked away from James. He just wanted one thing, to die, or kill James. Either one sounded equally good. Maybe he could make James kill him, yes, that was a good idea. The best way to do that was to be defiant.

Thinking this, Seth tried to get the farthest away from James as possible. He didn't make it that far before James took the Purifier and dragged him toward him. "Here," he said, pulling Seth's head back and forced a hunk of bread down his throat. He choked on it and had to swallow it. James nodded, "Good, boy, now this second bite I would like you to chew." He then took a piece of chicken from the tray and Seth, being insubordinate, clamped his mouth shut.

James, looking very annoyed, pressed a button on the Purifier. He suddenly screamed as the Purifier zapped him. When he was screaming, James put the chicken in his mouth and forced him to chew it. Seth knew he would never win, so he gave in and tried to swallow the food on the metal tray. It tasted like sawdust to him, but he ate almost half of it anyway. James looked at him, satisfied.

'I'm glad you're finally listening, but…" he said looking at his watch, "I'm a busy man, and I can't use all my time with you. So for just this time, I'm leaving for a few days." Seth felt relieved by this. James gone, that was heaven. But the next few words brought that hope down, "Eric will be watching you, since I don't trust anyone else to take care of you." James then zapped him with the Purifier for a few more minutes, before saying a quick goodbye and leaving.

He moaned, and forced himself to get up. He barely made it to the bed before he began sobbing again. He didn't know how he had so many tears. Life was just cruel, that was all it was, and it just gave you an illusion that the world was good, but it wasn't, it just sucked. Oh, why did James have to kill her? Now there was no one worth living for. His friends had abandoned him, his sister and mother were dead and the whole world supported the idea of people with abilities to be locked up, tortured, and experimented on.

He lay down on the bed and forced himself to take a deep breath. He looked at the bedside table and saw it was the liquid that knocked you out. He sighed in relief and quickly drank it. Drowsiness crept over him and soon he was out.

He woke up screaming again, he had dreamed that he was a little boy again and he was in his mother's arms, when James came over to him and shot her. There had been so much blood and he had been soaked in it, but James had taken him away.

He saw, to his surprise, that Eric was at the desk with a bunch of papers and….Ivy. Eric didn't even look up when he screamed, he just kept writing. Ivy, on the other hand, looked alarmed. Seth couldn't help but sob again, and he saw Ivy get up, wanting to come over to him.

Eric looked up calmly, "Leave him be Ivy." Ivy looked sadly at him, but did as she was told. His sobbing didn't last long and soon he was shaking. Seth put his head in his hands and told himself that James was gone and he could relax. He then lay back down on the bed.

Eric still wrote, "I have to admit, James is pretty rough with you," said Eric coolly. Seth barely heard him and only stared at the ceiling, not seeing anything. Eric stood up from the desk and so did Ivy, but Eric glared at her and she sat back down again.

"You look pretty terrible and I'm supposed to fix that, but unfortunately I have to go back to Hiroshima tomorrow, James told me to bring you and I won't disobey him." Eric's eyes looked at him with pity. "I wouldn't normally travel with someone in your condition, but I have no choice."

Seth sat up and Eric came over and sat next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. Seth was too weak to pull away, and Eric only continued talking, "Ivy, here, was the only one I knew that could help you a bit, but it also might be the wrong choice. I'll give you a sleeping drink soon if you talk to her. OK?"

Seth barely heard him and only felt the nod of his head. Eric smiled gently and stood up. "Good. I'll leave you two to talk." He then left the room.

Ivy instantly began talking, "Seth, I'm so sorry. I don't know how he could do this to you," Ivy's eyes were filled with shock and horror. He looked at her, barely seeing her. "Don't talk to me Ivy, please, I….." he paused, "I just want to be left alone." Ivy didn't listen and kept talking, "No, you need someone to talk to you. Your body's in shock and you're physically and mentally exhausted, you need help, please let me." Seth looked at her angrily, "Shut up! I don't need anyone to help me, I'm just fine and even if I do, it won't be from you," he then broke down into tears."

Ivy looked at him with so much sympathy as he sobbed. "Seth, I know you can't think right, right now, but please listen. It's not your-."

"No," Seth interrupted, "It was my fault. I should have listened to you instead of trying to escape. I should have done something. I…" Ivy felt tears come in her eyes too as she tried to comfort him.

Seth instantly recoiled from her touch, "Don't touch me! Unless you want to strangle me, which then I'll gladly let you do it. Death would be good right now." Ivy backed away from him as the door opened.

Eric came in with the liquid and went toward Seth. Seth tried to keep his sobs in, "Shh, just relax, forget about everything and relax." Seth sobbed in Eric's arms, barely knowing what he was doing. "Here drink this," he said kindly, "And the pain will go away for a while." Seth quickly drank the contents of the cup and wasn't disappointed when the blackness took him.

When Seth was asleep, Eric went toward Ivy. She looked away from Eric as silent tears came down her face. "He's in such misery, he can barely stand it……..I wouldn't be able to stand it," said Ivy looking at her feet.

Eric looked at her calmly, "What James does is none of our concern, he knows what to do and no one can stop him when he does it. Although…" said Eric, looking at Seth's still body, "What he did to him nearly destroyed him. It would have destroyed some people, but it didn't to Seth. James, I'm guessing, wants to keep him, for he hasn't killed him yet."

Ivy looked in horror at Eric, "Better death, than spending your life with that madman." Eric laughed at this, "James, a madman? Far from it, he's more of those people who are extremely powerful, smart and cunning and use it to their advantage. In James's case, it's destroying people that go over him. You know what I mean?"

Ivy shook her head, "I don't understand?" Eric went over to his desk.

"When James was a young boy, now granted this was eighteen million years ago. But you see the humans had it wrong. Eighteen million years ago was actually an older age of sword fighting and all that. We humans thought we have been only on this earth for about a million years, but truthfully human remains can only last so long. Sure, they say there is evidence that there were cavemen, but that isn't true, there is no actual evidence. Anyway when he was young his parents had been murdered by a street drunk. So he was left to fend for him himself. He was fifteen at the time. His parents had taught him not to steal and at first he wouldn't steal. Only when he was half starved did he finally resort to it. At this time people with abilities were treated with respect and kindness, and James had an ability…." Eric paused.

"What is James's ability," Ivy asked curiously. "No one knows, he keeps it a secret," said Eric a little too quickly, "Anyway, some soldiers eventually caught him stealing and locked him up in prison for three years, when a mysterious woman came. It was said she was a god of some sort, but I believe she was a person with a powerful ability. She came to James and he was by now eighteen. Which is by the way, extremely young, like a baby to us. You two are the same, how old are you fifteen?" Ivy nodded and Eric continued, "Well the woman took him and raised him. Now here's the part we don't know much about, it is said James was taught terrible things. But there was something she taught him about his power, something that made him barely use it. No one knows exactly what she taught him, only James. When he was five million the woman let him go and he went to go live his own life. His first job was as a soldier, but he hated that job and wanted something more satisfying. He noticed that there were many people with abilities and he thought they should be kept under control and not be allowed to do anything they liked. He soon set up an organization called The Society. He would recruit greedy and angry people into the Society so it would be easier for him to control them. At first he kept this organization secret, but then he realized it might be good for the general public to know and soon the organization was growing fast. Now we have about thousand ability people all around the world which is very good because people with abilities are rare. James has not shown any particular interest in any ability person………until Seth." Eric paused, "This is all I can say to you, or I will be killed for sure. James knows when I tell someone something they are not supposed to know.

Ivy looked at Seth's sleeping figure and felt sad for him, "There are lots more to that story then what you said," she said softly. Eric nodded in assent, "Yes, because that's the only things we know of James's past life. You can ask him, if you want to be killed."

Ivy looked at Eric curiously, "You're either a really good actor, or you aren't angry or greedy, how did you get in The Society?" Eric smiled, "Clever girl, well you see, and you must never tell anyone this," he said looking at her to make sure she understood, Ivy nodded, "Okay, James didn't just want greedy people running The Society. He wanted some people that were smart and easy to control also. So he found me and forced me to join with a few other people so he didn't have to worry about his organization going to the dust if he was gone for a few days. So here I am, forced to work here or my family dies which are of course now my great, great, great, great, great, great grandchildren and their children."

"You have an ability?" she asked surprised, he didn't look like he did. He had soft brown eyes and nothing spectacular about his features. Eric shook his head, "I don't have an ability, but James invented a formula for the people he wanted to keep to help him run The Society, to live longer. We can't live as long as you guys, but we live long enough."

Ivy said nothing, shocked by what she all knew now. Eric looked at his watch, "We'll be leaving on my private jet in twelve hours, I'm suspecting Seth will wake up in eight, then we'll get ready to leave." Ivy nodded, looking at Seth, "Will he be fine? I'm worried," she said. Eric looked at Seth also, "If we take it easy with him, he'll be fine."

Seth woke up feeling terrible, but not as horrible as before. He moaned and saw Ivy and Eric looking at him. He suddenly felt very self conscious and realized he had a killer headache. He sat up and put his head in his hands trying to sooth it.

"How are you feeling," Eric said gently. He groaned, what a stupid question to ask, "Besides having a headache from Hell, that my mom and my sister died and I've been tortured like Hell itself the past few days, I feel just fine," he said angrily and with a touch of misery.

Eric stood up and went toward the cupboard and pulled some pills out. "Here, take these, at least your headache will be gone. As for everything else, you need to handle that by yourself." Seth looked at the floor and took the pills and swallowed them quickly. Eric then gave him a shirt, "Put this on, you're not traveling half naked." Seth gratefully grabbed the shirt and put it on. He stood up, "Let's get going then, we might as well get the plane ride over with," he said a little shakily. Seth tried to take a few steps but barely made it ten steps before he collapsed against the wall, shivering.

Eric went over to him and helped him up, "S-sorry," Seth said unsteadily. Eric looked at him worriedly, "Here, lean on me, you won't make it to the jet by yourself." Seth nodded wordlessly and leaned on him. Eric gestured for Ivy to follow them.

They then went through many narrow hallways before they came to a door that led them outside. Once they were outside they saw the jet. He could immediately tell that it was an extremely expensive, it looked like it could fit about ten people and was sleek and shiny.

Seth had almost all his weight on Eric, but he didn't seem to mind. He led them to the entrance of the jet where two crewmembers waited. The crew greeted them and led them into the jet. At the front of the jet was a huge widescreen T.V, and big, plush comfy chairs around it. There was a huge wooden table standing between the T.V. and the chairs and an expensive rug. There was also an assortment of wine and beer bottles on the table with wine glasses. Seth had been in expensive jets, and he had forgotten how awesome they were.

You could tell Ivy had never seen such a jet before, "How rich are you?" she said in disbelief. Eric shrugged, "It's not me that's rich, it's The Society, remember this organization has been going for millions of years, we have trillions of dollars in our account. We can get the latest technology, best comforts and so on. The last thing that is on James's mind is money. Now, please make yourself at home, it's a sixteen hour flight and I've got the latest movies that are in theatres right now and almost all the Blockbuster movies," he said helping Seth into one of the blue comfy chairs. Seth sat down in relief and almost immediately relaxed, this is what he used to be used to, comfort.

Ivy sat in a green chair next to Seth, but he didn't care that she wanted to sit next to him. Eric wasn't that bad, he thought, why couldn't he be with him instead of James?

Eric was now talking to the pilot, "Take us off, I need to be there in exactly sixteen hours from now for a meeting." The pilot nodded his gray head and went toward his cabin. A few minutes later he felt the plane start moving and pick up speed; soon they were in the air. A crewmember then came to Seth offering him a drink. She was wearing the traditional blue pilot uniform and her hair was pulled back in a tight bun. He was unsure if he was allowed to get a drink or not when Eric ordered for him.

"Give him a root beer and I'll have a Corona." The crewperson then looked at Ivy, "Oh," said Ivy, "Do you have apple juice?" the woman nodded and said, "Yes we do."

"Okay, I'll have that." The woman smiled and while she was taking out the drinks Seth asked Eric, "How did you know I liked root beer?" Eric looked at him calmly, "James isn't the only one who read your file." Seth felt cold at this, it seemed like everybody knew about him and he hated it. Sometimes it's nice to have some stuff that is private to you.

"Here's the Corona," said the woman handing Eric his beer, "The cranberry juice and the root beer…..anything else?" Eric shook his head, "Nope, thanks." The woman smiled again and left. Seth looked at his root beer; he hadn't drunk anything or for that matter eaten anything sweet since the day that he had gotten captured.

"What's the date today," he asked suddenly. Eric took a sip of his Corona before answering, "It's June 8, 2009." Seth's jaw dropped, no that wasn't possible, it couldn't have been nine months since he had been captured! "June 8th! How is it June 8th?!!! he said in horror, "Are you sure you have the date right?" Eric nodded, "Time fly's fast when you're at The Society, doesn't it."

Seth put his head back against the chair and tried to dispel the nausea that had come in him all of a sudden. Nine months! He had been in Hell for nine frickin months. He looked at his root beer just sitting there. It looked too tempting and he soon took the can and downed it in about a minute. Man, did that taste good! It felt good to taste that cool, sugary and fizzy soda. He suddenly wanted ten more of them. He used to have races of who can down the most soda with his friends. He, of course, was the winner every time because he now knew that he was a _copycat._ His record had been sixty cans, but he had thrown it all up right after. Those were good times; he wished he was still there.

"Do you guys have any preference of what you want to watch?" asked Eric. Seth shook his head and Ivy said, "Not really."

"Good," said Eric taking the remote, "Then you want mind if I put on the news." He flipped to the one of the news channels and he saw a horrifying scene. On the channel there was a woman talking in a shocked voice, "As you can see," she yelled in the microphone through all the screaming in the background, "These people with abilities have been hiding from The Society." He then saw a little girl of about six or seven running from, he guessed was her house, with her mother holding her hand. When suddenly a Society person came and shot with perfect aim, at the mother's heart. The mother gasped and let go of her daughter's hand and collapsed to the ground and in a few seconds was dead. The girl stopped running and looked at her mother and started crying seeing her mother sprawled on the ground. Her hands started glowing and she looked at The Society person and shot a flaming fire ball at him. The Society person was wearing a special black suit and glasses, so the fireball didn't affect him. The Society person then took a different kind of gun from his belt and shot a dart in the girls arm. The girl instantly fell to her knees and became unconscious. Some more Society people came out of the house a few seconds later carrying two also unconscious teenagers that were a little older than him. He guessed they were the little girl's older brothers.

"You can see how dangerous these people are. Just look at that fire ball. It would have instantly killed him if it hadn't been for his suit," said the newsperson, "We should all be grateful that The Society takes care of these highly dangerous people, if they don't are world will probably be in chaos right now." The camera then switched to another newsperson in a building, "Thank you Emma. After the break we'll find more about some mysterious deaths and what The Society does to these people with abilities." It then went into a commercial about shampoo.

Ivy looked shocked at what she saw, but Seth wasn't surprised at all. That's what the Society did, they killed people and got what they wanted by doing it. Seth closed his eyes and imagined he was still famous. He imagined he would be joking with his friends about girls and eating pizza and candy. If they had watched this they would get in an argument about how this was unfair and how they should change this horrible treatment. Seth did try; he put up signs and raised awareness. But the signs and everything he said against it always seemed to disappear….. Now he knew why.

It was at that moment that he heard his mom's name. He looked at the T.V. and there was a picture of his mom, bright and healthy. Eric moved to turn the T.V. off, "Wait!" he said quickly, "I want to see what they're saying." Eric looked at him in surprise, "Are you sure?" Seth nodded and watched the screen.

"As many of you know the beloved Marie Andrews has died in a terrible car crash two days ago," said a different newsperson, "she was the loving mother of the used to be famous Seth, who has, with much shock, been taken by The Society nine months ago because he had an ability. We have not seen any trace of him since, but there has been a rumor he was around where the President was at the Senate building. It is a sad tragedy that Marie died so soon after she found out her son had an ability, it must have been a real shock. She died at 6:45 in downtown New York City. Some New Yorkers had found the car smashed into a tree by the Hudson River. Some specialists have examined the wreckage and have found out the crash was caused by an ability. There is someone with an ability that is very dangerous out there, and we suggest you be careful and if there is any sightings of this person contact The Society immediately."

Seth felt hot tears running down his cheeks, James was terrible, and he had made it seem that an ability person had done it so the public could blame them more now for all the accidents. He was evil, but evil didn't explain him. There was no terrible word that could describe him.

"Turn it off," he managed to choke out. Eric quickly pressed the power button on the remote and looked at him worriedly. Seth hastily wiped the tears from his eyes and closed them. He wondered what James was planning to do to him. He missed Annie so much. Three years ago when they had adopted Annie, he at first hated her because she always had all the attention and always annoyed him. But eventually, he couldn't help but love that little girl. When he became famous; he always gave her the best presents and whatever she wanted. He knew that presents isn't always how you win affection, so he tried to visit often, but every time he did his mom and him would always get into huge fights and he would always leave slamming the door behind him. Annie always complained and asked why they fought so much and he only replied that it was adult stuff. He felt sad at how many times he had said to his mother that he hated her. Now he would never be able to apologize.

Seth then fell into fevered dreams of Annie and his mom lying dead on the floor. He then heard voices, "Seth! Seth! Wake up." He opened his eyes, to see Ivy and Eric looking at him with concern. Seth realized he was shaking and cold sweat was running down his forehead. Seth took a shaky breath, "What did I do this time?"

"You were muttering and squirming in your seat and we've been trying to wake you up for the last hour," said Eric. Seth took another deep breath and stopped his shaking, "Are we almost there?" he said, trying to get their attention away from him. Eric nodded, "Yes we are, you had slept a long time, and hopefully you'll be able to walk by yourself now or I will be in trouble with James."

Then the crewmember that had given them the drinks said, "We will be landing soon, if you would all please sit down and we can start are decent." Eric and Ivy went back to their seats and the woman left.

"Seth," said Eric, "I'm giving you to one of my servants when we land. Unfortunately it will have to be a cell because James is coming tomorrow and if he happens to come early and not find you in a good place there will be trouble for me and you." A sinking feeling came in his stomach; James was coming tomorrow, to Hiroshima. That wasn't a great thought.

When they had landed, Seth found he could walk fairly well. When they were walking down the stairs to the ground Ivy accidently bumped him hard and he would have fallen off the stairs and broken his neck if he hadn't done a back flip in the air and land lightly on his feet. He was stunned at what he had just done, he hadn't even thought about it when he had done it.

Ivy's face changed from horror to amazement when she saw him do this feat. Eric, on the other hand, looked angrily at Ivy, "What do you think you are doing, clumsy girl!! What if his ability hadn't saved him? What would I say to James?!!!"

Ivy's face had tuned beat red, "I-I'm sorry, I know I'm clum-." Ivy stopped ,seeing Eric's face. Seth quickly went toward them.

"Hey, it wasn't her fault, I was the one who stumbled, blame me," he said feeling his body fizzing with energy. Eric sighed, "You know it was Ivy's fault, but never mind I have to go. Seth you see that man over there," he said pointing to a person next to the Hiroshima Society headquarters. Seth nodded, "Good, now go to him, I'll see you in a little while. Ivy come with me."

Seth went to do as he was told and went towards the man. He wore a butler's suit and his blonde hair was greased back.

"So you're Seth," said the servant, looking him up and down. Seth nodded, "Yeah, that's me." The servant grunted, "Follow me." Seth followed him as they came to Hiroshima's headquarters. He had to admit that Hiroshima was a lot more beautiful than New York. It was about seventy degrees out and sunny, there were pink cherry blossom trees and beautiful birds around the headquarters. It had well mowed, lush green grasses and there were many flowers that were all the colors of the rainbow. Everything looked very neat and tidy.

When they came to the entrance to the headquarters instead of two metal absorption doors there were two wooden doors that had carvings of birds and flowers on them. But when they entered through the doors, the good feeling of the place vanished. There were Society people everywhere; one of them was dragging a chained man across the floor. The man was yelling at The Society person to let him go. He was saying that he just wanted to see if his family was all right. The Society person stopped dragging the man and took a bottle out of his pocket and forced the man to drink it. Instantly the man went off like a bombshell. He was screaming and gasping putting his hands to his ears as if something was painfully loud.

"Who is that," he asked pointing to the man, the servant smiled at this, "That is Leander; his power is that he can hear extremely well. But the drink that was forced in his mouth was adrenaline. The adrenaline made his hearing fifty times more sensitive, so that's why he's in pain right now. Now come along and I'll show you to your cell."

Inside the Hiroshima headquarters it looked exactly the same as New York's headquarters, with the same steel floors, walls and many rooms. The servant showed him about a quarter of a mile down the hallway to a door and was led into a very uncomfortable room. Uncomfortable meaning there was nothing in it. No beds, tables, stones, nothing. After pushing him into the room, the servant closed the door quickly, locked it and left. Seth knew it was going to be a very long night.

He sat on the steel floor and leaned his body against the wall, bored. He knew that when he got bored, the more he thought of all the horrible things that had happened to him. There was no hope of escape for him, none. He would be with James for the rest of his life. This thought brought pain and sadness through him. Eric was right, James could do whatever he wanted, and he was the most powerful man on earth. He could become President if he wanted. Maybe if he watched James's actions for a few years he could kill him, but somehow that idea seemed impossible.

Seth thought a lot, before the door opened. Food was pushed through the opening and the door quickly closed. Seth went toward the food and saw it was some kind of Japanese food. He recognized the sushi and some type of fish, but the rest of it looked weird. There seemed to be some jelly substance and a weird rice thing.

Seth was okay with sushi, he would eat it but he didn't necessarily like it. The fish was really good though, but he didn't even try the jelly substance or the rice. Seth then lay on the hard floor. He didn't want to go to sleep, he was afraid he might get terrible nightmares. So he just lay there for a few hours before the door opened.

Chapter 11

He was surprised to see Ivy by herself walking through the door. She was holding a pair of keys in her hand and was looking around her hurriedly. "What are you doing here?!" he asked bewildered.

"Shh!" she whispered urgently, "I'm going to escape with you and we need to do it now because James is talking to Eric right now and they'll be here any minute." Seth just sat there stunned and then shook his head.

"I'm not escaping! Are you joking! You're the one who told me not to escape in the first place and now look what they did to me," he said angrily, "No I'm not escaping." Ivy looked at him pleadingly, "You're afraid," she said simply.

He got up off the floor and looked at Ivy, "Hell! I'm scared, what you think I'm not? Do you realize what he's going to do to me when he catches me escaping? He'll probably kill everybody I know or make me do it and torture me to death."

Ivy looked really sad, but started begging, "Please Seth, if you don't come with me, then I'm going by myself and this time escaping is different. There aren't that many Society people around and no absorption doors. I'm 80% sure we're going to escape and not get caught."

"And what do you plan to do once we escape? We'll be hunted all our life and they will capture us for sure. Maybe not in one day, maybe not in two, but someday they will." Ivy looked down at the ground, "Seth, there's no time to explain, but if you're not coming then goodbye."

Seth felt horrible, he couldn't let her go by herself and she was right, it would be easier to escape without getting caught. "Okay, I'm going," he said, defeated, "So how do we get out?"

Ivy looked relieved, "Thank you Seth. There isn't really much of a plan except just follow me. Now let's go quick." Seth felt a rush of adrenaline go through his body, as they ran out the door. Since he was faster than Ivy he pushed through the huge wooden doors before her. He waited a few moments for her to catch up before they sprinted away from the headquarters. That's when the alarms began ringing. Alarmed Seth and Ivy ran toward the highway that was about a mile away from the headquarters. They were both gasping hard when they came to the highway. Seth knew they would have to catch a ride from someone or they would get caught. That's when he saw James driving toward them in the fastest car in the world the SSC Ultimate Aero. It was then a dark blue Ferrari came screeching toward them and stopped right in front of them perfectly. h

The driver rolled down her window and yelled, "Get in, quick!!" Without hesitating Ivy and Seth opened the up the doors of the back of the Ferrari and got in. The driver immediately pressed on the gas pedal and they went so startling fast that his body was wacked into the seat in front of him because he wasn't wearing a seat belt. He quickly did so and so did Ivy.

"Who are you?" Seth asked the mysterious driver as she weaved around the cars on the highway expertly. The driver then turned sharply to the left. "No time for questions now, we got company." Seth looked behind him and was stunned to see James was catching up to them. He looked at Ivy, she looked really scared.

"Faster!" she said wildly. The driver bent down in concentration, "I can't go any faster! It's not my fault I don't have the fastest car on the face of the Earth!!!" Seth looked at the speed dial, 210! He looked in disbelief, no one could go that fast through this many cars, but yet the driver was doing it. The driver then took an extremely sharp turn to the right, but James did the same thing.

"Hold on, I'm going to try to lose him." Seth held on to the handle of the car and looked out the window to see the city of Hiroshima. This driver was good, he thought, almost as good as James, but unfortunately James was better. He looked behind them and saw they were only separated from James by just a few feet. James's car then crashed into the back of theirs on purpose. The driver swore loudly at this and James kept pushing the Ferrari forward with his car. Seth was slammed so hard onto the back of his seat that he was almost sure he had broken his neck.

"Just great," said the driver, "He also has a damage proof car, of all the things," the driver then began swearing again. She then took the sharpest turn yet and they skidded on just two wheels. Seth's eyes grew wide in horror, sure they were going to crash, but they didn't, in fact, they came on all four wheels smoothly. Seth just stared in shock for a few seconds and looked back and was relieved to find that James wasn't following them anymore. He realized he was holding his breath and he quickly let it out. Just when he thought the big chase was over a big black Society car came in front of them.

Oh no, Seth thought, they were surrounded. He looked back and saw two other black cars. They were done for, but the driver didn't think seem to think so. She didn't slow down the car at all and they were soon cruising full speed toward the black Society car. She then rolled down her window and put her arm out. Instantly a ball of what looked like to be electricity and fire appeared out of her palm and onto the car. Immediately the car was destroyed and pieces of metal were scattered everywhere. Some pieces flew at the Ferrari and dented it badly. But the driver didn't pay attention to this and only drove straight past the wreckage and onto the highway.

She drove at full speed for a while and made a few sharp turns before she started going at a more normal speed. After a few minutes she looked at the rearview mirror, "Are you two okay? I usually only save that kind of driving for when The Society is on my tail. My names Keri, by the way." Seth just sat in the back and looked at Ivy; she had been terrified throughout the whole ride and still looked a bit winded. Whoever this woman was, she was really good at driving and she had an ability that she knew how to use well. Maybe she could kill James…… just maybe. At least she was helping them.

"How did you know to get us out right at that time, and who are you that you can drive like that? Are there others?" he asked her.

Keri said nothing for a few moments, "I can't answer your first question until I have permission, and to the second, that's a long story," she said turning onto a ramp. "Please tell us," said Ivy. Keri sighed and stopped at a gas station, "I will after I fill gas, now stay in the car." She unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car.

A few minutes later they were back onto the highway, "When I was young," said Keri calmly, "Even younger then you two, I was captured by The Society. They did horrible things to me, they would inject me with who knows what, experiment on me and there was this man. He would touch me and say what they should do with me. One day, they decided to sell me to the highest bidder…" she paused, "I was sold to this old man for two million bucks. The first thing I noticed about this man was that he was a shape shifter, because he went from being an old man to a young man in seconds. I was very scared at this time, but the man comforted me and said he would take care of me. He then led me to this school, although it wasn't just any school, it was a school to train people with special abilities. At that time there was about forty of these kids of all different ages and about ten adults. I was enrolled into the school and lived in the dorms there. Most of the kids had no parents, there were only two that did.." she paused slightly again, "I learned many things there, that I would normally never learn, for as you know, the driving thing was one of them. We learned these things so that we could eventually destroy The Society."

"When you're eventually done with your training you're given special jobs depending on what you are good at, which they will explain there. My job is to rescue you youngsters from The Society. It's harder now because The Society began to notice that we buy a lot of the slaves they sell. So they stopped selling them and now we have to get you out of The Society itself which is a huge challenge. That's basically the whole story."

They drove in silence for a few minutes, "Where is this school," he asked. If James hadn't found it yet, it must be hidden very well.

"Hmm? Oh it's in Colorado, I'll show you on a map when we get on the plane." Seth looked in horror at Keri.

"What! We're going on a plane! We'll get caught right away and even if we don't, we'll get caught when we go through security, they'll have ability sensors." Keri actually laughed at this, "Don't worry, I've got pills in the back that will subdue out abilities for a few hours, but you have to remember to take them every four hours. As for what you like, I'm going to disguise your eyes and all."

He suddenly felt his face grow hot, of course she would have thought of all that stuff. He needed to loosen up and go with the flow. "Our plane leaves at 8:00 P.M. and its 6:45 right now and it'll take about ten minutes to get to the airport. I'll stop on the side of the road to get you guys ready for the airport," said Keri stopping on the side of the street.

"Get out," she ordered them. Seth opened the car door and got out onto the dusty road and went toward the trunk of the car. Keri was taking a small duffle out of the trunk and began taking things out. There were many bottles of colored hair spray, a container labeled colored contact lenses, and an assortment of makeup and clothes.

Seth took this time to study Keri, she was tall and slim with thick red, brown hair and bright gold eyes. He saw besides her slim build, she had layers of muscle on her bare arms and legs. She was wearing a black tank and ragged short-short jeans. She wore no makeup and didn't look like the fashion type girl.

"Here," she said handing him a pair of tattered jeans and a sweatshirt that said Brooklyn on it. She gave Ivy a pair of nice jeans and a t-shirt that said PEACE. "Go on, change, I won't look," she said seeing him look really awkward. He nodded and changed first, then Ivy.

She then gave us a makeover. To Ivy she gave her hazel colored contacts and sprayed her hair a dark brown with blonde highlights and dabbed makeup on her face to make her look more normalish. When Keri was done with her, he had to admit she did an excellent job. He could barely recognize her at all. Keri then went over to him, "You're going to be harder, someone might recognize you easily because of how famous you used to be."

She then gave him light brown contact lenses and sprayed his hair red. He watched as she gave him a tiny bit of makeup around his eyes, probably to get rid of the black dots under them and gave him really dorky glasses. He bit his lip from complaining, he would never ever have dressed up like this in his whole entire life, he felt like an absolute dork. She then made him stand still as she cut his hair to his chin. When Keri was finally done and he had put on the glasses, Ivy started laughing. He glared at her, but she only laughed harder. Even Keri smiled a little, "No, they won't recognize you in a million years." Keri then gave them the pills and they quickly swallowed them. He felt the effects immediately. It was like being drained of energy and he felt weak and vulnerable. Was this what a normal person feels like?

Ivy was still giggling when they got in the car, "Shut up!" he said annoyed. Ivy took a deep breath, still smiling, "Okay, I'll stop, it's just I never thought you could ever not look cute, but to make you look dorky, now that takes talent." She said and started giggling again.

Now even more annoyed, Seth looked out the window. A few minutes later he saw the airport. Keri quickly found a good parking spot and stopped the car and turned her body around to look at them, "I have your fake ID's and passports here. Seth your name is going to be Jerry Ruth Evergreen and your eighteen and Ivy's yours is Samantha Emily Evergreen and you're seventeen. We came here on a family vacation and I'm your Aunt Leanne Bailer. You got that?" Ivy nodded, but he had to ask, "Aren't you going to disguise yourself?"

Keri nodded, "Of course, watch." He watched as she changed her eye color without putting colored contacts in. She took a clip out of her pocket and put her hair in a bun. She then took a big lumpy jacket and put that on with glasses over her nose. He watched as she then took the short-short jeans she was wearing put her hand over them, and strangely changed into long pants. Her shirt had also changed into a pink sweater with flowers on it. Seth and Ivy looked at all this in incredulity.

"H-How?" he asked, stunned. Keri just smiled and handed them their fake passports and ID's. Seth looked at his picture and saw it was him, dorky. How in the world had she done that?!! It wasn't possible to do that in just a few minutes. If he didn't know better he would think that it was a real passport and ID. "Keri, how did you-."

"It's something you learn at the school you're going to," she said calmly. They then got out of the car and went toward the entrance to the airport. Seth looked around the airport and noticed the security was tighter than usual. He had only been on a public plane once and that was when he was two. He had been very small for his age, so his mom had hidden him in her bag until they came on the plane. He knew now that she had done this so as not to go through security and get caught by the ability sensors. One time when he had to go on his private jet it had to takeoff from the airport and he witnessed an ability person start to beep. Instantly security was on the woman in a matter of seconds. She apparently had the ability to fool people, but her ability didn't work on The Society people.

When they came to the security guards they looked at his dorkiness with distaste. At least that was good, they wouldn't think he was an ability person. They just glanced at our passports and IDs before letting us through. When they were inside the airport they looked at the list of planes and saw theirs was on time. Good then they could…..

Seth looked in horror; there was James and Eric talking to two teenagers about his and Ivy's age. The two teenagers looked very scared by these men, but answered all the questions without hesitation. Keri gave them a quick look and they went into the Starbucks. Eric was the one who saw them first.

"Hey! You three come here." Keri then said in a motherly voice, "Come on we have to do as that man says." Freaking out by this time, Seth fought against running as fast as he could toward the exit. When they came to James and Eric, he saw that Eric didn't look so good. His right eye was black and there was long scrape on his forehead. He guessed he had put cover up on the tinnier scrapes. It didn't look like he had a pleasant time with James.

James then spoke smoothly, "May we see your passports please." Keri handed him the passports, "Here you are, sir." Wow was she a good actor, she looked the appropriate scared but not too scared knowing that her nephews had no abilities.

James looked at the passports then at James and Ivy, "Where are you traveling to?"

"We're traveling to Colorado Springs," said Keri quickly. Immediately James looked suspicious and he took out an ability sensor. "This is just an extra precaution, if you three would just stay still for a few moments. I'm sure you and your," he paused looking at Seth, he instantly felt like James could see through his disguise, he quickly looked at the ground, "….family are innocent."

He then scanned them with the sensor and Seth held his breath, sure it would start beeping, but to his relief, it stayed quiet. But James wasn't done, "Jerry, is that your name?" James asked. Seth nodded. "You're a little too tall than what it says on your passport." Seth took a deep breath. Why did he have to be so tall? "They must have got my height wrong," I lied stupidly in what he hoped to be a dorky voice. James smiled, "They must have; now I would like you to take off your glasses."

Seth looked at Keri and she said, "Sir, this is illegal, and we're going to miss our plane if we don't hurry." James looked at Keri, surprised, "Do you know who I am," he said threateningly. Keri let her face show with fear as her character would have done. "Jerry, please take off your glasses."

He's going to find out who I am, he thought, scared. Before he took them off, he heard beeping from a security place. James reacted instantly and went toward the direction of the beeping. Eric nodded at them, "You may go."

They walked away from Eric a little quicker than necessary and went toward more security. Seth looked at Ivy, she was shaking. "Hey you all right," he said soothingly as Keri gave the attendant their boarding passes and passports. Ivy nodded quickly, "I'm fine, it's just that he scares me a lot." Seth nodded, "He scares me too," he murmured.

They had no problems going through security and were asked no questions. When they were finally done Keri asked, "You guys hungry?" Seth nodded, "Oh yeah, I feel like I can eat twenty cows." Ivy nodded also, "I'm starving, maybe not as much as Se-, I mean Jerry, but I am pretty hungry," she said.

"So where do you want to eat" Keri asked casually. Seth immediately looked for the junkiest fast food place there was. "Let's go to McDonalds," he said thinking of the Big Macs. He knew he was probably going to order five of them. Keri shrugged and Ivy said, "I don't really care."

They went to McDonalds and a man in a yellow and orange uniform, looking really bored asked what they wanted. Seth spoke first, "I'll order five Big Macs and two large baskets of French Fries, please." Keri rolled her eyes, "Cancel what he just said. Give him two Big Macs and one large basket of French Fries," she said looking at him. He tried to protest but she gave him a warning look and he stopped.

"I'll have chicken nuggets and a soda, please" said Ivy. The man typed on the register, bored, "And you ma'am," he asked Keri. Keri smiled at the man, "I don't want anything, thank you." The man finished typing on the register. "That will be $10.50." Keri gave him the cash.

"Thank you, your order will be out in a moment." They moved out of the way of the register as a family of five came to take their order. Ivy was looking at him in revulsion, "Five Big Macs. How can you stomach that?" she said in an annoying voice, "And also two _large_ baskets of French Fries." Seth glared at her, "You're not the one who was starved half to death for the last nine months, you shouldn't be talking and anyway, why do you care, I can do what I want." Ivy looked angry at this, "You-."

"Stop fighting guys, it doesn't get us anywhere. Although five Big Macs is pretty disgusting," said Keri smiling. Seth looked at Keri, angrily, but forced himself to calm down. He saw their order and quickly took the tray and looked for a place to sit down. He wished he could have those five Big Macs; he would be able to finish two of those and still be hungry. He deserved them anyway, James had fed him like he was a bird when he was at The Society.

When he, Keri and Ivy had sat down at a table, he immediately took from the paper bag the two Big Macs and French Fries. He unwrapped the wrapper from the Big Mac and ate it in about a minute before he unwrapped the next one and ate that it in thirty seconds. Ivy hadn't even bitten hers and was looking at him in disgust, "You're sick."

"What, I'm hungry," he said with his mouth full, so it actually came out as, "Werr, Irm ungry." Keri was shaking her head and smiling, as he ate the French Fries. Man, how he missed the taste of junk food. When he was done he took a long sip of his large root beer.

"Our gate is B18," Keri said, waiting patiently for Ivy to finish her food, "We'll be boarding in a few minutes and it's a fourteen hour plane ride." Seth nodded, gulping the remains of his soda. When they were done eating they came to the terminal. Seth looked around, everything seemed so normal, he wished he could be normal then none of this would be happening. He would have no ability, he would be free.

When the plane attendant announced that they were boarding and called their zone, they stood up and put their boarding passes into the scanner and boarded the plane. They were all in different seats from one another, so Seth had to sit next to a smelly old man. Seth quickly took the headphones that he had taken for free at the plane attendant's desk and plugged them into the earphones plug on the armrest. He switched the channel to the most top rated music channel and listened to it. It, of course, had to be his song called You Aren't Me.

Seth quickly changed the channel, but only found classical and country. Neither of them were his favorite. Sighing in annoyance, Seth changed back to the top rated music and endured his music. Almost all the songs on the channel were his. Sure, there were some other songs sometimes, but then it would just go back to his. Irritated, he took off the earphones and tried to scoot a little more away from the smell of the old man. It was a pretty bad smell.

The plane ride was horribly long and he couldn't listen to music and there were no movies. The only thing he could do was think or look at magazines in the back pocket of the seat in front of him. He decided to think, but that turned out to be terrible because the only thing he could think about was Annie's dying face and James telling him his mom was dead.

Eventually the plane landed and Seth quickly took off his seat belt and looked for Keri and Ivy. He finally spotted Keri taking out her cell phone and dialing a number. She said a few words into it and then hung up. Keri nodded at him to meet her once they got off the plane. When he had finally made it off the plane Keri gestured for them to follow her. Since Keri was the only one carrying anything, which was a backpack, they didn't have to wait for any luggage.

The Colorado airport was very cool; it was one of the coolest airports in the world in his opinion. Not that he had seen every airport in the world. On top of the roof of the airport there looked like to be huge white tents. Inside there was a huge water fountain. He saw many kids playing by it, touching it with their hands in the water and splashing it at each other.

Keri walked fast through the airport and he almost had to jog to keep up with her. Ivy, on the other hand, had to jog because she didn't have as long of legs as he did. He hoped he could wash off his dorky hair and take off his glasses soon.

Eventually, Keri led them out the exit of the airport and through many rows of parked cars to an ugly man.

He had a long brown beard with specks of food stuck in it. He was squinting, as if looking at a bright light and had messy curly hair clumped on top of his head. He was also extremely obese, he could see he had five chins of fat on his beefy neck.

The ugly man smiled at Keri and to Seth's surprise and disgust, hugged each other. Without thinking Seth asked, "Can I take off all this dorky stuff now?" Ivy and Keri smiled, amused. "Not yet, Seth, not until we're away from the airport." The ugly man smiled at them, showing extremely crooked teeth.

"So this is Seth, then this must be Ivy," said the ugly man looking at her. Ivy smiled politely, but you could tell she was as disgusted as him by his appearance.

"This is Mathew," said Keri, "He is the head of the school and not to mention the leader of all of us." Seth's mouth dropped, this man was the leader, an extremely ugly and obese man! "Shall we get in the car," said Mathew, gesturing to a broken down Hummer. It was pretty battered up, the once red paint was now peeling off and part of the front of the car was torn off. Seth started feeling disappointed, looking at the old man and the beaten down car. Wasn't this place supposed to be awesome? Not full of cheap equipment and fat people.

He reluctantly got into the rusted car and sat on the tattered leather seats. Mathew took the wheel and Keri sat to the right of him. The engine started with a loud rumble and then they were off.

When they had passed the airports premises, Seth couldn't help it and ripped of the dorky glasses and took the contact lenses out. He wiped away most of the makeup, but couldn't get rid of the red hair.

Ivy looked disappointed as he did this, "That's too bad, you looked so good in the glasses." Seth punched her in the arm and she cried out, "OW! That hurt!" She didn't say anything after that.

Seth looked out the window, glad. He saw they were going in the direction of the Rocky Mountains. He looked at the time it was 6:00 P.M. He hoped the school wasn't so poor that they didn't have any food there, he was starving.

"So," said Mathew, looking at them and driving at the same time, Seth jumped in shock. What once was an extremely obese and ugly person was now a tall, lean handsome man. He had stunning blue eyes and short brunette hair. He looked to be in his twenty's, but knew he was much older.

Mathew chuckled at seeing his and Ivy's faces "How did you do that?" Seth asked astonished.

"I'm a shape shifter," he said simply, "I see that Keri got you guys out of there safely, I was a little worried. We have been expecting you for some time. Oh, and Ivy, to make sure you don't suffer any longer, you're parents are with us safe and sound." Ivy's eyes grew wide for a moment before she started crying from happiness.

"Th- the'yre not dead! I thought-," she couldn't finish her sentence because she couldn't stop crying for some reason. Mathew let Ivy be by herself and looked at Seth, "I have to admit, Keri did an excellent job at disguising you. I thought there would at least be a resemblance to you and that dorky person, but there weren't." Seth couldn't help but smile, he realized these people were good and they would help them. If they weren't found by The Society yet, they had to be pretty good at hiding and getting kids in the school secretly.

"What do you mean; you have been expecting us for a long time?" Seth asked curiously. Mathew still drove without looking at the road, "Well we've been expecting Ivy because of her parents, but you…….well," Mathew paused and turned back to his driving.

"Well what?" Seth said, annoyed because he wasn't answering right away. Mathew turned the car to the right and said in a faraway voice, "James has never showed any interest in any particular ability person before, but we noticed that changed when he took you along with him all the time." Mathew paused again and turned onto a ramp, "When we noticed this, we saw it as unusual and dangerous. So we looked more into you and realized you were…..special. Normally, ability people just fall into James's hands and follow his orders without a thought, but you resisted him. That, especially for your age, is amazing. I've never seen someone who can stand against someone like that. We don't know why James is interested in you, it could be that reason or something else, but we don't know. We knew that we had to get you out of there."

James was interested in him? He thought James did that to every ability person. Seth looked out the window and saw they were closer to the Rocky Mountains. Mathew wasn't telling him something.

"So has Keri told you what the school's called?" said Mathew smoothly. Ivy shook her head, "No." Mathew suddenly pressed on the gas pedal hard and they were cruising at 160 mp. "It's called the S-A-T-S or SATS. It stands for Special Ability Training School. There are about eighty kids there right now and twenty adults. Training usually lasts a thousand years." Seth couldn't help but feel shocked, a thousand years! That would take forever.

"A thousand years!" Seth said incredulously, "You're joking!!" Mathew smiled, "We live forever, and you need at least a thousand years of training if you're going against someone like James." Mathew drove for a few minutes in silence before he said, "Do you know how old I am?" Ivy and Seth both shook their heads, "I'm thirty million years old and still have the energy and the body of a twenty year old."

Seth felt dizzy at this, thirty million! He must think I'm a tiny baby, or he was lying, but he doubted it. He took a deep breath and saw they were beginning to climb the mountains. They sat in silence for the rest of the ride and when they were half way up one of the mountains, Mathew stopped the Hummer. They got out of the car and Keri gestured for them to walk over to a clearing a few feet from where they were standing. Mathew was still by the Hummer and was doing some weird motions with his hands. Suddenly the Hummer disappeared into thin air.

Seth looked at where the car was a moment ago, stunned. "How did you do that?!!" Mathew went over to them with an expression of amusement on his face. "I merely shape shifted it into thin air. If you think that's cool, wait till you get to SATS and that's when you'll be surprised."

Keri was shaking her head and smiling at Mathew, "It still stuns me how you can do that. It surprises me every time, and I've been in SATS for a long time," she said.

Mathew shrugged, "I guess you haven't seen at what much of the students are capable of."

Keri rolled her eyes and ushered them to follow Mathew, "We have to walk a few miles before we get there," she said. Seth nodded, glad that they could do some physical activity, he then followed Mathew into the forest.

There was no trail, so they walked straight through the dense forest. It was beautiful; there were soft ferns and moss. Birds twittered in the tall trees and gentle sunlight filtered through the gaps in the branches. There were glistening dew drops everywhere giving it a mystic feeling. He took a deep breath of the fresh air and smiled. He was always at ease in the forest. He looked at Ivy and saw she was having a hard time. Every few minutes she would suddenly trip over a fern or whack right into a tree branch. Seth thought that was a little unusual, after all her power was nature and yet she wasn't at ease with it. Seth was also glad he had a sweatshirt on, it was cold. He felt bad for Ivy; she just had a short sleeved t-shirt on. He finally sympathized with her after she tripped again and got all soaking wet.

"Here," he said, taking his sweatshirt off, "Take this." Ivy accepted it gratefully. "Th-thank you," she said shivering and putting it on. Seth nodded, "Your welcome." A few minutes after he had given the sweatshirt to Ivy, he began to feel really cold with just a thin t-shirt on. He wrapped his bare, skinny arms around his chest and rubbed them. About an hour later, his hands were paper white and he was shaking. He hoped they were almost there, or he would freeze to death. He looked at Mathew, he had a short sleeve shirt on, and the cold didn't seem to be bothering him at all. It had to be at least -10°F out. Suddenly he began to feel warmer, that's weird, he thought, it didn't look like it had gotten warmer, yet he felt warmer. He then realized he had seen Mathew warm, so his body had copycatted it. He wondered if he would ever feel cold again.

About seven miles later, Matt stopped and went over to a nearby tree. It looked ordinary, like all the trees, so he was surprised when part of it opened like a door. Matt went through the door and a few seconds later came out.

What a few moments before had been forest was now what looked like to be a sort of city. There were clusters of buildings and one huge building in the middle of the city. He guessed that on was SATS. Some of the buildings were made of metal, others wood or stone. It seemed like every building was unique in its own way with different carvings of plants and animals at each building by the entrance. Each building also had its own design and patterns around them. Some had swirly, complicated patterns. Others had simpler, wavier patterns. Some people were walking around, but most, he guessed, were eating supper. His stomach growled, and he smelled something that was barbecuing and his mouth started watering.

He couldn't help but gasp at this city and before he could say anything, Matt said, "Now let me show you SATS."

Chapter 12

Keri left, saying she had some business to take care of. Mathew then led them toward the school. "School here never stops; only on special holidays do we allow students to have a day off. When new students come to SATS we usually test their ability to see which group they're put in. There are six different types of groups; the first group is called the Cleaners which are the group of weaker mental abilities. The next are the Elementals which is the group of stronger mental abilities. Next are the Seans which are the weaker physical abilities and the Thelemas which are the stronger physical abilities. The last two are the Mandras which are the weaker physical, mental abilities and the Clairvoyances which are the stronger physical, mental abilities."

Seth nodded, wondering which group he and Ivy would be put in. He knew they had groups so it would be easier to teach them according to what kind of ability you had. For instance, if you had an extremely weak mental ability with someone who has a powerful physical ability it would be very hard to teach both of them at the same time because of the mass difference between the two.

"I usually don't have much time to work with students," said Matt, leading them to the door of SATS, "So I have appointed a head of the school. Her name is Eleanor and she does a very good job. The teachers are also very good, so you don't have to worry that they are teaching you something wrong."

Seth looked at the entrance of the school; there was a large wooden carved dragon to the side of a large oak door. The dragon was about five feet tall and beautifully carved. You could see every scale and there was no flaw that he could see.

"Who carved the dragon?" he murmured. Matt looked at him, "Students in art class usually make carved wooden figures. This one was made by one of the most talented artists we have ever had. Unfortunately that student was killed by The Society not too long ago. She was an amazing carver and I wish you could have met her."

Seth looked at the dragon, sadly, "It's beautiful," he said softly.

Matt then led them through the huge oak doors and into SATS. He almost smacked right into a kid that had ran super fast past him. He was instantly stunned, there were students flying around the hall (no wings) others were carrying books and backpacks, rushing toward their classes. There were many tables in the hall and many of them were filled with students studying. Others were practicing their abilities as they walked.

This was amazing, he thought, they were like him, all of them. He grinned and looked at Ivy, she was smiling too. But Matt didn't let them dawdle long, he led them through the throng of students and some of them even whispered at each other as they passed. He wondered why, they must see new students all the time.

They eventually made their way past the crowds and Matt led them to a door and opened it. Seth saw a small woman behind a desk talking to the most muscular boy he had ever seen. He was huge, his arms looked to be the size of logs and his hands as big as bear paws. The boy was a little shorter than him, but at least outweighed him by five hundred pounds.

The woman was looking angrily at the boy, "Doria, you have to learn to stop terrorizing kids younger than you. Just because you're big and bad doesn't mean you have to bully them!" Seth saw Doria was clenching his beefy hands, "I wasn't purposely terrorizing them, they're just afraid of me."

The woman was shaking her head in disappointment, "Why do you bother lying to me? Detention with me for the next three days and you'll probably be cleaning horse poop all day. Now please leave, I have company."

Doria looked about ready to say something, but thought better of it and walked toward the door, rammed into his shoulder and left the room. Seth rolled his shoulder back, that Doria guy could ram you hard. Seth looked more closely at the woman, she had short dark hair, her eyes, to his surprise, were a bright silver. She was small, but held herself with authority. He guessed she was the principal of the school, Eleanor.

She sighed and looked at them, "Oh, Matt, we got the new students, good." Matt smiled, "He's causing trouble, like usual. You know if you just send him to be with me for a few hours I'll get him to be nice." Eleanor smiled at this, "I'll save that as a last resort, but for now let's just have a look at the new students."

Eleanor studied them, "I assume your hair isn't red Seth, or your hair brown with blonde highlights, Ivy," she said, surprising them with their names.

"No it's not red; I hate red hair anyway especially after today," said Seth, deciding that this woman was nice enough for him to talk to her comfortably. Eleanor nodded, "When you get to your dorm, you can wash up in the shower and get rid of all that colored hairspray."

Ivy was shifting her feet impatiently, "Um, where are my parents? I'm sorry, it's just I haven't-." Eleanor put her hand up for her to stop talking and smiled gently, "Your parents are teachers now. Your dad teaches hand fighting and your mom history for beginners. I'll send them in now." Seth looked at Ivy in surprise, her parents were teachers? Had Ivy been here before? Is this what she meant when she had no time to explain, when he had asked her what they planned to do with their life once they escaped from The Society.

Seth saw Eleanor didn't do anything to send Ivy's parents in and there was no telephone in the room. Eleanor looked at him smoothly, "I'm a mind reader, Seth," she said suddenly in his head. He cried out in shock and Ivy looked at him weirdly, but Matt explained, "She can work like a telephone and can send students or adults with her mind as well as read them. So be careful of what you think around her. Now I'm sorry, I have a meeting with some of the fighters today." He bowed to them and left the room.

"What are-," Seth started, before Eleanor finished his sentence. "Fighters, you'll learn about them soon, and I won't spoil it for you right now." It was then the door opened and a very tall man and woman came in the room. The man was tan with sandy blonde hair and looked to be very fit. He was wearing loose jeans and a white t-shirt that said Truth is Better than Fate (whatever that was supposed to mean). The woman was of slim build and looked a lot like Ivy, she had the same electric blue eyes and nose, but her hair was a chestnut color. She was wearing tight jeans and a purple sweater.

Very soon Ivy was in their arms and they were all laughing from happiness at being with each other. Seth knew he should be happy for them, but all he felt was emptiness and jealousy. He wished he could have a family like that or a family at all. He looked away from them and saw Eleanor looking at him sadly. Oh no, she can read my mind! He felt his face grow hot.

"And this must be Seth," said the man and giving him a hard slap on the back. Seth was glad that he was used to getting hurt, because that slap was little too hard. "You're a skinny boy. When I saw you on T.V. you had a lot more muscle, but I guess that's to be expected when you're with The Society." The woman smiled wide at the man, "You don't even introduce yourself, and you just start criticizing. Anyway he's Tyler and I'm Carla and we thank you for taking care of our daughter."

Seth looked at all the family together, they seemed comfortable with each other, they were lucky, he could never have been comfortable with his family. "I didn't really take care of your daughter; she more or less took care of me," he said to them. Tyler smiled at this and ruffled Ivy's hair. "Did you now? We have a lot of catching up to do."

Throughout this time, Eleanor was looking at this whole reunion silently, she then broke in, "We can't keep talking all night. These kids are probably bone tired and I think I'm going to leave the tour of the school for the morning." Ivy's parents nodded, "Of course," said Carla, "We'll leave while you sort them into their groups. We'll be waiting right outside the door." Ivy nodded. They then left the room. Ivy looked sad at seeing them go, but Eleanor pointed for Seth to sit down in a chair. "Ivy is going to go first," she said calmly. Seth did as he was told and sat in the chair.

Eleanor stood up walked over to Ivy, "I would like you to demonstrate your ability for me. You'll only glow, but I want to see how powerful it is." Ivy nodded and started to glow a greenish glow. Eleanor studied her for few seconds before she nodded, "Yes, you're a Thelema, which is means you're in the stronger physical ability group. Now if you would please step outside, I would like to do Seth alone." Ivy nodded her eyes bright and left the room.

"Seth, if you would please stand up and come over here," she said gesturing to a space in front of her. He did as he was told and looked down at Eleanor. She was really small and he felt like a giant.

"You're a tricky one," she said, her eyes scanning him, "I've never encountered an ability anything like yours." She thought for a moment before she jumped ten feet in the air did five back flips in a row, touched the high ceiling and fell lightly on her feet. "Copy me," she ordered. He looked at her in disbelief, "You want me to copy that! Can't you start with something easier like-." Seeing Eleanor glaring at him, he stopped.

"Do it Seth, it's a test at how much your ability can copycat." Seth nodded and took a deep breath and suddenly his mind went blank and he copied what she did, except adding a few more flips and landing so lightly that it made no noise.

Eleanor was looking at him in astonishment, "Can you copy like that mentally also?" Seth shrugged, "I don't know, I never really used my ability that much before." Eleanor went to her desk and pulled out a chart with complicated numbers and words in a language he didn't understand. As fast as she pulled out the chart she put it back.

She then gave him a pen and paper, "You saw the chart, copy what you saw." Seth took the pen and without thinking copied in the perfect handwriting, what he saw on the chart. Eleanor was looking at him in disbelief, "Do you know what you just wrote?!!" Seth shrugged, "It says it's the Helocamaticoloposity chart, whatever that means."

Eleanor sat down in her chair and said, "That's the most complicate chart in the world, it shows mathematical equations for everything. One of the tests, when a student graduates from this school, is memorizing that chart in a couple of days. That is someone who has been studying it for a thousand years. You just did it in a few seconds with just glancing at it. I've never seen anything like that," Eleanor was looking at him weirdly.

Seth suddenly felt a cold fear in his stomach. He was a freak, even in a school of abilities. Eleanor then came back to herself, "I'm going to put you in the Clairvoyance group for right now. I'll talk to Matt about what we should do with you. For now, Ivy's parents will show you where you'll be sleep for the next thousand years. Please leave," she said gesturing toward the door.

Without saying anything, Seth left the room sullenly. He saw Ivy's parents laughing at what Ivy just said. He sighed, Ivy was lucky; he thought jealously, so frickin lucky. She had parents that understood her that helped her, while he had to be on his own. It will always be like that, he will always be on his own.

When Ivy's parents saw him they asked what group he was in. "I'm in the Clairvoyance group," he said morosely.

"What's wrong Seth; did Eleanor give you a hard time?" Carla asked. He shrugged slightly, "You could say that." Carla then went toward him and put her hands on his shoulders. "Ivy told us you've been through a lot. If there is anything you need, please ask us. But now you must all be hungry and exhausted. There's food in the dorms and I'll take Seth to his and Tyler if you would take Ivy."

Tyler nodded and Ivy came next to him. "I'm sorry Seth," was all she said before she left with Tyler. Seth just stood there until Carla said, "You coming?" He nodded and followed her. She led him through many hallways and went up a flight of stairs. They eventually came to a door.

"This is the boys' dorm for the Clairvoyance group. The girls are a little farther to your right. You're in bunk four," she said.

Seth nodded, "Thank you, I appreciate your help." Carla smiled, "I'll see you in class and trust me you're going to have fun here."

"Okay, I'll see you in class," he said softly. Carla left and he opened the door to see an electric fireplace and boys scattered around the room doing homework. They all stared at him as he came in. There looked to be ten boys in the room and he saw some stairs leading upward, he guessed to their bunks.

Seth felt really awkward with the boys staring at him. One of the smaller boys stood up and went over to him and extended is hand, "Hi, I'm Alex, and you are?" Seth shook Alex's hand and was surprised. It was like putting your hand in electric outlet. He jerked his hand away from him immediately, "I'm Seth and what in the world is your ability?" he asked, stunned.

Alex looked at him apologetically, "Oh I'm sorry, it's hard to stop my ability from leaking out when I just practice it. I can teleport, although I can only do it a few feet with a lot of concentration, but the teachers said that in time I will be able to teleport longer distances easily."

Seth nodded, liking Alex right away. "Here I'll introduce you to all the boys," Alex said leading to a boy who was closing his eyes and frowning in concentration. His skin was black and he had black frizzy hair. "This is Hugo," said Alex, "his ability is different, he's a controller, he can make people do what he wants. Although he's not very good at it because he can only make people fetch water for him and has major anger issues."

Alex than touched him lightly, "Hey there's a new kid, Hugo." Hugo opened his eyes and almost punched Alex in the face, if he hadn't dodged it. Hugo looked extremely angry at him. "You had to disturb me Alex," he said heatedly, "I can't wait till I'm powerful enough to make you do suicide, and I almost had the perfect state of mind control! But of course, little Alex had to disturb me because that's what he's good at."

Some of the boys in the room looked up at this, but most continued studying as if this happened all the time. Alex was laughing, "You miss me every time, Hugo. Every time! It's hilarious."

Seth could tell why Alex had said Hugo had anger issues; he looked about ready to kill Alex. His hands were clenched into fists as he stood up. "I'm going to kill you, little guy and make you scream for your mommy." Hugo then ran after Alex. Alex, still laughing, teleported behind Hugo,

"I'm over here," Alex said, sticking his tongue out at him. Hugo turned around angrily and ran after him again and Alex teleported behind him again. This happened for several minutes, when he noticed Alex was tiring from all the teleporting. Seeing this, Hugo picked up Alex by the shirt before he could teleport again. Alex struggled from his grip, weakly, "Please Hugo, I just wanted to show you the new guy." Hugo, about to punch him said, "Stop begging for your life, you do it every day and today I might succeed in actually killing you."

Before it could go out of hand anymore, Seth shouted, "Wait, Alex is right, I just wanted to meet you." He was surprised when Hugo's fist unclenched and he dropped Alex to the floor.

"Who are you that is breaking up old revenges….huh?" Hugo said crossly. Seth kept his distance from Hugo.

"Alex was introducing me to everybody and I want him to be able to walk and talk while he does it," he said calmly, "You can finish your revenge with him later." Hugo glared at him, "Fine then," Hugo turned to Alex, "We continue this tomorrow." He then stomped up the stairs to his bunk.

Alex looked relieved when he left, "Thanks man," he said to Seth. He shrugged, "No problem." Alex then showed him to the other boys. One of them he found interesting was a stocky boy named Ryan. He had short blonde hair and eyes that changed colors. His power was the ability to make it summer. He also had a twin sister who had the ability to make it autumn.

When Alex was finally done introducing everyone he asked, "Where is the food and showers, I need to get rid of this red hair." Alex pointed to the right where there was a door. "The food is upstairs on a table and the showers are that way. I thought you looked weird in red hair. What color is it actually?"

"Black," Seth answered and Alex nodded, "I'll let you take a shower, I have some homework to do so I'll probably see you in the morning?"

"See you in the morning," he said heading toward the showers.

After taking a long hot shower, he saw that there were clothes on some shelves. He noticed they were old and ragged. He had seen that that most of the boys were poorly dressed. Probably because you couldn't buy new clothes here and had to get some from shops miles away. He picked a pair of loose jeans that had a few holes in it and a long sleeved t-shirt.

When he was dressed, he went up the stairs two at a time and saw rows of bunks against the walls. He looked around for the table that Alex had said had food on it. He saw it and went over to it and found it to be a basket of fruit. He picked up an apple and bit into the green skin loving the tartness of it. When he was done with the apple he threw the core away and lay down on his bunk not caring anymore that he was still hungry.

So far this day hadn't been horrible, but it wasn't good either. The boys all seemed to be fine except for Hugo. And what were Matt and Eleanor going to do with him since he learned a ton faster than the other boys? They would probably kick him out and then he would be captured by The Society again. Hopefully that wouldn't happen and he would continue to be a part of this school. Another thing that was bothering him was that Matt was keeping something from him.

Seth looked at the ceiling, all he wanted was to fit in and even here he couldn't. At least he was away from James, which was something to be grateful about. What did James want from him, if he didn't want to kill him? So far all James did was kill any ability person he got tired of, but he didn't kill him. With luck he wouldn't find out why by James himself.

Seth closed his eyes. He was exhausted, but didn't want to go to bed. He was afraid at what he might dream about. He took a deep breath and tried not to think of the terrible things that clouded his mind. A few hours later he was asleep.

Chapter 13

Seth woke up to anxious voices. All the boys had crowded around his bed, looking at him worriedly. He instantly knew that he had been screaming in his sleep again. He sat up, "S-sorry, he said shakily, "I didn't mean to wake everyone up."

Just then Alex came in the room with a teacher. He had curly black hair and was lean and tall. He looked like he came from the Middle East and had a dangerous look about him. The teacher knelt by his bed, "Alex told me you have been having some nightmares and wouldn't wake up. Are you alright?" he said with an Arab accent.

"I'm fine," Seth said, "It was just a nightmare, I have them all the time now." The teacher looked at him, agitated, before taking a bottle that was in his hand and giving it to him.

"Drink this; it'll keep you asleep till morning without any dreams." Seth took the tiny bottle and the teacher stood up. "Get back to sleep now boys, it's going to be a long day tomorrow." The boys groaned, but did as they were told. The teacher then left. Almost immediately the boys started talking to him, "That must have been some nightmare, you were screaming like Hell broke loose," said a boy named Lyle.

"Yeah," said Alex, "When you started screaming I thought we were under attack or something." Seth said nothing to this and uncapped the bottle and drank it.

"Right now," he said quietly, "I want to go back to sleep, okay." Alex looked at him, concerned, "You came from The Society, didn't you. Most of us have, but some have worse experiences than others. What did they do to you?"

Seth looked away from Alex, "I really don't want to talk about it right now," he murmured.

"Okay," said Alex, "I understand." He said nothing after that. Seth lay down and felt the contents of the bottle beginning to work. He gratefully sank into unconsciousness.

When he woke up, most of the boys had left the room. He saw Alex was still there reading on his bed. He leaned over to see the title of the book, it said, The Art of the Mind, and at the bottom of the book in smaller letters said, A guide for students learning to keep their mind blank and only think of one particular thing (good for mind readers, teleporters, mind erasers, etc.).

Alex looked up, seeing Seth staring at his book. "Oh, this is just for school and it's extremely complicated. I don't think I'll get anything it says." Seth nodded in agreement, "It looks pretty complicated and boring."

Alex stood up, "It is, trust me. You want to go down to breakfast? I wanted to wait for you to get up before I went. You probably don't know where anything is."

Seth shrugged, "You're right, I have no idea." He was glad Alex didn't want to talk about last night, "Let's go."

Alex led him down many stairs down to the cafeteria. There was a buffet of eggs, bacon, sausage, French toast, pancakes, hash browns, bagels, cereal and so on. The cafeteria was crowded with teachers and kids eating. He saw Ivy's parents were sitting at the teachers table with the Arab teacher he had seen last night, Eleanor and a few other teachers he didn't recognize. There were about ten circular tables in the whole cafeteria and almost all of them were filled with boys and girls.

"Does it matter where you sit," he asked Alex as he picked up his plate and scooped some scrambled eggs onto it. Alex shook his head, "No, as long as you don't sit next to Doria or Kirsten."

Knowing that Doria was that big bully he saw yesterday, he asked, "Who's Kirsten." Alex pointed to a pretty skinny blonde haired girl talking to a red head. "She's the prissiest, most spoiled brat that ever was, but be careful she has the ability of attraction. She can get any boy she wants to love her, and I mean any boy. I'm lucky she doesn't like small people."

When they were done piling food on their plates, Seth looked for Ivy and saw her table was full. Disappointed, he followed Alex to a table with three girls he didn't know and Ryan. He was talking to a slim red-haired girl as they sat down on the table.

"Dusty, for the millionth time," said Ryan, annoyed, "I don't know what piloerantoactic means, okay. So can you just tell me?" Dusty shook her head, "Figure it out, break up the word."

"That Dusty," said Alex. Gesturing toward her, "She's Ryan's sister also a major smarty pants. I suggest you don't get on the wrong side of her."

It was just then that one of the teachers came carrying some papers. "You're Seth right?" she said looking at him with pale blue eyes.

"That's me," he said. The woman then gave him his schedule of classes, "Here you are," she said, "And you better be on time for all of them." Seth nodded and looked at his schedule, the first thing on the list said horse riding and then mental studies (whatever that was).

Before he could ask Alex what mental studies was, Kirsten came over with two of her friends following her.

"You're new," Kirsten in a lovely voice, "I assume you know me already." Seth knew he should be careful of her, but he couldn't remember why. She was beautiful and the lip gloss she was wearing looked really good on her. Seth could only nod, "So," she said flipping her long blonde hair behind her, "What's your ability? It must be pretty powerful if you're in the Clairvoyance group." Seth knew something was wrong, but he felt in love with her already. She was just so beautiful. Kirsten then put her arms around him.

"I can copycat people," he said without thinking, "You know, I can do what a person does that can be impossible for other people by just looking at them." Kirsten smiled sexily at this, "You're really hot. I'm also in the Clairvoyance group, but you're the cutest boy I've seen yet. Sure there are adults cuter than you, but no boys."

Alex then spoke, "Stop getting to him Kirsten, you should know you shouldn't go after boys because their cute."

Kirsten looked at him coldly, "You're not in this Alex, it's just me and……what's your name?" Seth looked at her. His mind was telling him that he should get away from her, but his body wanted her.

"Seth," he said, hypnotized by her. Kirsten then stroked his hair "You want to go-," she then got interrupted by an angry voice, "Kirsten! What do you think you're doing? How many times have I told you not to use your attraction on boys?" Seth instantly woke up from Kirsten's ability and realizing her arms around him, quickly pushed them away.

"Get off me," he said in horror. Kirsten looked really offended by this, "I'm sorry Seth, I thought you liked it," she said in a high voice. Seth looked up and saw that it was Eleanor talking to Kirsten.

"Detention, one o'clock tonight with me," she said to her. Kirsten stood up, "I just wanted to meet him, ma'am," she said in a very attractive voice. Eleanor rolled her eyes, "That didn't look like you were just meeting him. Now go back to eating your breakfast or I'll make it two detentions."

Kirsten got up unhappily and left the table. Instantly the whole table burst out into laughter. "That was absolutely hilarious," said Ryan and Dusty together.

"Yeah," Alex said, laughing really hard. Seth felt his face get hot, "That's not funny, I didn't know she was that attractive." The table just laughed harder.

"D-did you see Seth's face," said Dust, shaking with laughter, "He was so into her." Feeling even more embarrassed, Seth stood up. "I'm not that hungry anymore. I think I'm going to leave you jerks and go to a different table."

Alex instantly stopped laughing, "No Seth, please stay, we're sorry," he said glaring at Ryan, Dusty and the other two girls. Ryan put his hands up in what did I do? Seth shook his head, "No, I think I'm going to leave."

"Please Seth, don't go, who's going to show to your classes?" Alex asked pleadingly. Seth sighed and sat back down again. That was true, who was going to show him to his classes. Besides, Alex had been nice to him ever since he came here.

"Fine," he said defeated, "Are we all in the same classes?" Alex nodded, "In the morning we are, but in the afternoon we get split up because everyone has a different ability. So for my ability you would go to the classes that the teachers chose that would be good for my ability. You understand?" Seth groaned, "Oh no, that means Kirsten's going to be in the same classes I am in, in the morning."

Alex snorted and Seth glared at him. "Sorry," Alex said. It was then that a bell rang. "Attention students," said the speaker, "It is 7:58 right now. You have two minutes before your classes start, you are excused to go." Everyone in the cafeteria immediately stood up and rushed out toward their classes.

Seth followed Alex out of the school and outside. He was met with a blast of cold air, but it didn't bother him that much. He followed him about a quarter of a mile before they came to the stable. It was a huge stable, but when they went inside he saw what looked to be a hundred horses inside their stalls. Each one of the horses was different, from their body size to their color. He saw only a few of the students were there as they joined them. Ryan and Dusty came a few minutes later and then Hugo, Kirsten and everyone else.

The teacher of the class was a tall dark haired woman; she looked to be very lean (everybody seemed lean here) and was wearing horse pants.

"Since we have a new student today, I will be working with him. Everybody can take their horses and give them some exercise, while I give him the introduction to the stables." Everybody did as they were told and began to saddle their horses. The teacher then came up to him.

"Hello Seth, my name is Ms. Liz. Here at SATS the horses pick their riders. We breed out horses like this to make sure the horse and rider are comfortable with each other," she said leading him out the backdoor of the stables. "The horses," she continued, "Usually pick their rider by their personality and ability. Let's see which horse picks you." By this time, Liz had brought him into a clearing surrounded by great oak trees.

"What am I supposed to do," he asked, confused.

"Just stand there," said Liz calmly, "In a few minutes the horse will pick you." Seth did as he was told and waited for about ten minutes before a horse appeared in the clearing and went toward him. It was a beautiful black stallion. He had a gleaming coat, a long black mane and shone with muscle. Seth looked at this creature with wide eyed, he was beautiful.

When the black stallion came toward him it nudged him with his nose. Realizing it wanted to pet him, he stroked his silky black muzzle. Liz was smiling tenderly at the animal.

"This one is very special. He was born from the great stallion Blackfire. The rider if that stallion was a man named Rohan." Seth couldn't stop looking at the animal, but when he heard Rohan's name mentioned he looked up," Rohan? Who is he?" Was it the same person that Diane had caught and gave to James?

Liz suddenly had a faraway look in her eyes, "Rohan was an amazing student. When Blackfire chose him, Rohan couldn't leave him and he could speak horse, you know. He was the most beautiful and powerful boy I had ever seen in my life, but also very depressed. Matt immediately had a connection with Rohan and tried to help him. He wouldn't except any help and only asked one thing, if he could ride Blackfire every night. We let him, of course, and one day I followed him on one of his daily rides. He was the most amazing horsemen I had ever seen. He was one with the horse. I never followed him after that. One day after his thousand years of training at the school, Matt wanted him to be a fighter because of his excellent weapon skills. He refused and asked permission to leave. Matt didn't let him, saying he was too young and would get captured by The Society. Rohan was stubborn and didn't listen to Matt and left."

Liz paused and closed her eyes, "He put up a good fight, but he was no match against her, absolute no match and he was taken away."

Liz opened her eyes and he saw they were filled with sadness. "He was always my favorite, and I know he was Matt's too." Seth knew it was the same boy that Diane had caught.

"Was he a great singer?" he asked. Liz looked at him, surprised. "Yes, he was the best. Why do you ask?" Seth looked back at the stallion, "I asked because I saw him at The Society and heard him singing the saddest most beautiful song I had ever heard." Liz looked at him stunned.

"He's still alive! How? I must tell Matt immediately, where is he?" she asked eagerly. Seth continued stroking the stallion's muzzle, "He's in the New York City headquarters."

Liz took a deep breath, "I must calm down. So let me continue my lesson for you." She came over to the stallion and began stroking it also. "So what are you going to name him?" Seth thought for a moment. If his father was Blackfire then he must have a powerful name. Blackdust? No that was stupid, maybe....

Seth looked at the stallion, "I'll name him Darkmoon," he told Liz. Liz nodded, "That's a good name, it fits him well," she murmured, "Call him by his name now." Seth did as he was told, "Darkmoon!" The stallion looked up and reared, Seth instantly dove out of the way of his sharp hooves.

Liz laughed at this, "Every horse does something different to acknowledge their name." Seth nodded, stunned at what Darkmoon had done. "Now," said Liz, "Let's saddled him up and take him out before class is over."

Darkmoon followed them into the stables and Seth was given a bridle and a saddle. Liz showed him how to saddle Darkmoon and told him to mount him. Seth put his foot in on stirrup and swung his body onto the horse. He'd seen plenty of people ride horses, but never rode one himself.

Liz then ordered him to walk the horse outside. He did and Liz instructed him in walking and trotting, he found out how to gallop on his own. It was weird to be on a horse, a little like being on a very bumpy roller coaster, but it was also fun. When he rode he loved the feeling of the cool wind on his face and the sensation of him and Darkmoon as one. Too soon the class was over. He dismounted and Liz was looking at him in amazement.

"You're going to be better than most riders that have been horse riding for years, if you keep learning like that." Seth shrugged, "I can't help that I learn faster than most people, it's just my ability." Liz smiled at this, "Unsaddle your horse and you're dismissed."

Seth led Darkmoon back into the stables and unsaddled him, instantly the horse took off into the forest. He hoped horses were allowed to do that here. Seth looked around for Alex and saw him unsaddling a chestnut mare. He went over to him, "What's her name?" he asked Alex.

"Brownie," he said, combing down the horse's coat until it gleamed. "We better get going, if we're late for class it's an instant detention." Seth nodded about to go when he saw that Alex was covered in a layer of mud.

"What happened?" he asked. Alex's face swiftly turned a beat red. "Um, well, Kirsten attracted me into a mud ditch. She really hates me, you know, but you should be even more careful. She tends to go for your, uh, type."

Seth smiled at this, "Come on; let's get to our next class." Alex nodded in relief, "Yeah, Mental Studies. I warn you it's extremely boring." Seth made a face, "Great a boring class. I was hoping they didn't have those here." Alex laughed and then led him to the class.

Mental Studies was taught b a middle aged man. Alex was right, it was extremely boring and he found himself falling asleep during the man's speech of what was the difference between their brain and a normal persons. Unfortunately the teacher noticed him drifting off.

"Seth!" he said, jolting him awake, "You look awake enough to draw and name all the parts of our brain," he said smoothly. Some students giggled at this, and Seth forced himself to act like he had been listening. "Of course I will," he said getting up and walking toward the whiteboard. The teacher gave him a black marker, "Draw and name," he ordered.

Seth wracked his brain and decided to show off a little. He took the marker from the man's rough hand and first drew the chart that Eleanor had made him copycat yesterday. "Well according to this chart," he said, "The mathematical velocity of out brain is 18096.65439263 take that and divide it by 7 and you would eventually get 9.4. So are brains density is 9.4."

Seth then drew their brain that he had glimpsed the teacher drawing, "Over here we have two heavily densityied parts of out brain, which normal people don't have. These parts access our abilities. Over here," he said gesturing to the middle of the brain, "are the Bone Clems, and then here is the Catipe, Luosine and I believe if use that chart I drew over there the velocity of this part of the brain would be 763,826. And that's about all he talked about, right?" he said with poise.

Seth turned around and saw all of the class, including the teacher, mouths were open in amazement.

"Seth, if you would please come here," said a cool voice. He looked in the direction of the voice, it was Matt. Seth nodded and went toward him. Everybody looked at him in disbelief as he passed by them.

"Did I do something?" Seth asked in an innocent voice. Matt merely looked at him calmly, "Seth, if you would please take a walk with me. Don't worry you only miss the rest of this class, but not the next," he said gently. Seth looked at Matt in surprise, "Of course," he said.

Matt then gestured for him to follow him. They walked past many rooms and finally into the cool, fresh air outside. They walked in silence for a few minutes and Seth wondered what Matt was planning to say to him. Matt eventually broke the silence, "My god, Seth, what you did was the smarts of a thousand year old and this is your first day," he paused looking at a blue jay chirping in a tree, "If you continue your training at this pace, you'll be done in only a hundred years."

Matt stopped walking, "This is a god place to sit down," he said gesturing to a wooden bench in front of them. Seth sat down and so did Matt. "On your hundredth birthday I would like you to train with me for the next few years. Yes with me," he said seeing the look of astonishment on Seth's face.

"I don't know what to say," Seth said, shocked. Matt smiled coolly, "I heard Blackfire's son chose you, I was wondering who he would pick and it happens to be you. That is no coincidence."

Seth didn't know if he should be feeling happy or mad that Matt was offering him this. But it was a little annoying, all he wanted was to be a little normal, but he couldn't, not even here. "When we were in the car," Seth said softly, "You said James had never been interested in any person with abilities until me. Why? Why me? I was having the perfect life. I was famous, I was rich, I was spoiled, but with just a flick of a gun he took that all away, killed my family, made me kill an innocent person and got tortured within an inch of my life. Why didn't he just kill me? I begged him to kill me, but he didn't, even though he kills everyone else without mercy. Oh why did he keep me alive," he asked, angry tears rolling down his face. He quickly wiped them away.

"And now, you're saying you want me to train with you. What is so damn special about me!! I don't have the most interesting ability in the world, I mean look at some of the other abilities, and there are people who can control people, who can teleport wherever they want. Aren't they much more interesting than me?" Seth felt himself getting angrier and angrier, he felt like hitting something. No, he felt like killing something.

Matt said nothing and held out his hand to the blue jay. The blue jay tilted its head and hopped onto it. Matt just looked at it and then began stroking its tiny head, before he let it fly away.

"I know how you must be feeling right now. At one time I was just like you, angry and scared," said Matt calmly. Seth looked away from Matt, "You have no idea what I am feeling right now," he murmured.

Matt looked at him sadly, "I remember when James was child; he was scorned from the moment he was born. His parents left him to die when he was five and he was forced to fend for himself. One day he got caught stealing a crust of bread and back then you would have been hanged for such treason, but since he had an ability this didn't happen." Seth looked at Matt in surprise, "What is his ability?"

Matt looked off into the trees, "His ability is very powerful, probably the most powerful in the world. Imagine an ability that can control people, torture people and kill with a thought. That is basically his ability. Don't ask me why he doesn't use it, I will tell you soon." Seth said nothing, wanting Matt to continue with James's childhood.

"James was forced into a special prison for abilities where he was forced to do hard physical labor like breaking rocks, moving five hundred pounds of bags and many other terrible things. In this place they were kept on special chains so they couldn't use their ability. James barely knew how to use his ability, so he wouldn't have known that he could have escaped anytime he wanted. Many times he would faint from the exhausting labor, but he managed to stay alive. Most people who were in that prison only survived a year. There was only one other person that survived more than a year, besides James, and he only survived a year and a half. James managed to survive for five years. He was eighteen and half dead when a woman came. You already know her, Diane is her name." Seth nodded, shocked by the story so far.

"She paid for the poor boy and raised him back to health. When James was fully healed he begged to be let free, but Diane would not let him instead she forced James to work for her. It wasn't exactly work, it was more like training in a way. This was Diane's dream, to get the most powerful person in the world for herself."

"It was brutal training and Diane had no pity for him. James had never known love or happiness and he thought this was life, hard work and pain. This was all he knew until he met her. Every year Diane let him have a free day and that's when he first met her. James immediately fell in love with her, but the girl on the other hand was shocked by James. She had never seen someone so cold, at first she avoided him, but James always found her and she fell under James's spell. These were the happiest days of James's life, this was the first time he felt happiness and love and he cherished it like the sun. He tried to meet her whenever he could and she was always waiting for him. She had the ability of controlling the weather and she was also extremely beautiful. James, belief it or not, was quite handsome too at the time. James thought Diane had no idea about their love affair, but she did and found it a good opportunity of making James her own once and for all."

"Diane took the girl that James loved with all his heart and killed her in front of his eyes. This killed James and in a way it actually did. He could not function for a year and then he was so blind with anger that anyone or anything that reminded of him of her he killed. He started to love it when he caused people grief and he desperately tried to kill Diane. He would have succeeded, because remember he was the most powerful man in the world, if Diane hadn't made him belief that it wasn't her that killed his love, but that it was him and he had accidently let out a blast of his ability that killed her. James couldn't take this and tried to kill himself, but Diane stopped him and to her disappointment he swore never to use his ability again."

"Eventually James's grief died down a little and he didn't kill everyone he saw, but any good that was left in him is gone, replaced by a cold hearted man who only cares about suffering and death."

Seth looked away from Matt and into the trees, he was embarrassed by what he had said before, he was also shocked by James's life. It must have been terrible to have no one to ever love you and then the only one you love was killed in front of you. At least he had been loved and had a good life before he had been captured by The Society, but James never had that luxury. No wonder he was so terrible.

"I-I……it must have been horrible for him," Seth managed to say to Matt. Matt looked sadly at him, "I don't usually tell students that story and I would not like you to tell that to your friends. I just thought you should know about James."

Seth stood up, "How do you know so much about James's life? It seems like you were there when it all happened." Matt stood up also, "It's nearly time for your next class, Seth."

"You didn't answer-," he tried to say before Matt put his hand up in silence. "I am very old," he said evenly, "I know many things. I have said too much; now let me show you to your next class."

Realizing Seth wasn't going to get anymore answers from Matt he followed him to his next class. "What is my next class?" he asked. Matt looked at his watch and walked faster, "its hand fighting and it's just right down here."

Seth had to jog to keep up with him and then he saw his class. They were sitting on the ground at the edge of some trees listening to Tyler. They looked up when they came and Seth looked for Nile and went toward him.

"We're a little late Tyler," said Matt, "Sorry for that. I'm sure Seth will catch up quickly."

Tyler nodded, "It's nice to see you Matt," Matt only nodded and left.

Seth sat down next to Nile, "So what did he say to you?" Nile whispered. Seth shrugged, "Nothing much, he mostly explained about the school," he lied easily. Nile looked confused by this, "He never explained about the school to me?"

"Nile, Seth I would appreciate it if you would stop chatting and start listening," said Tyler. Glad that Tyler had stopped their conversation he started listening.

"Now, since our new student has joined us we will have a review today." Some of the students groaned at this and Tyler put his hand up for silence. "Okay, who would like to give a demonstration of hand fighting with me?" Ryan put his hand up quickly and some of the students laughed at this.

Ryan is the worst at hand fighting," whispered Nile to him. Seth nodded at this and looked back at Tyler.

"Sorry Ryan, I would like someone more….experienced." Ryan looked sadly at the floor.

"But I am experienced; I'm three hundred years old," he said. Tyler ignored Ryan and motioned for a petite girl to stand up, "Cindy, if you would please show Seth how it is done." Cindy stood up and nodded, "of course," she said in a small voice. She had long reddish-gold hair and magenta eyes.

"She is the best fighter of our group, mainly because her ability is having super human reflexes," said Nile softly in his ear.

Seth watched as she walked toward Tyler and stood in a fighting stance. Tyler did the same and soon they were just staring at each other. Cindy then sent a flying punch toward Tyler, but he easily dodged it and soon they were fighting faster than he thought possible. It was like a very fast moving dance, and it was amazing. He didn't know anyone could be that good, but they both were. At first it looked like Cindy was going to win, but as the fight went on it was obvious that Tyler had the upper hand. After about thirty minutes Tyler had Cindy in a headlock, "Dead," he said breathing hard and letting her go. Cindy, also breathing hard, quietly sat back down.

"Now…." said Tyler, trying to get his breath back, "I would….like everyone to….team up with a few partners…..and practice the basic fighting posture. Towards the end of class…I will give you each…… a partner to practice your…. fighting skills."

Everybody stood up and began teaming up with their friends. Seth was soon in a group with Nile, Ryan, and a girl names Sarah.

"Seth, in Mental Studies," said Ryan, "How in the world did you know all that stuff. And that chart you drew, how in the world had you memorized that! I mean, come on, no one can even think of the numbers you came up with and they were accurate too because the teacher checked."

Seth shrugged, "It's my ability. I'm a copycat, okay. So, can we just continue with this hand fighting class?" Suddenly, his group was looking at him weirdly.

"You're a copycat," said Sarah in disbelief, "That must mean that…." She stopped and nodded. "Yeah, let's continue with the stance." Ryan and Nile looked away from him quickly, "Hmm, let's continue," said Ryan.

Seth felt weird, why were they keeping something from him? What were they keeping from him? He took a deep breath, maybe he was just over reacting and they weren't keeping anything from him. He did the basic stance that he had seen Tyler and Cindy do. His group did the same and soon the awkwardness passed. They talked and joked about simple stuff, until Tyler called the class together.

"Okay, now I want everyone in a straight line." Everyone did as they were told and were soon in a perfect straight line. Tyler then began calling down people's names. Unfortunately Nile was teamed up with Kirsten; he felt extremely bad for him and wished he could trade so he was the one who had to endure it. When his name was called he was teamed up with Cindy.

"Cindy will teach you most of the basics of hand fighting," said Tyler. Seth nodded feeling a little uncomfortable with this small girl. She smiled and led them to a clear space.

"Since you already know the basic stance, I want to see what you've got. So try to hit me," she said calmly. Seth nodded and relaxed into the fighting stance, so did Cindy. They were soon facing each other and then Seth kicked at Cindy, but she dodged it easily. His mind then went blank and he barely remembered what he did next. By the time he noticed what he was doing, he saw he was holding Cindy in a headlock and was choking her. He quickly released her and took a step back, shocked by what he had done. He saw that the whole class was staring at him, stunned. Cindy was gasping for breath and Tyler had come next to her and stroked her back.

"Are you alright?" he said worriedly. Cindy nodded and glared at Seth. He just stood there, knowing that he had nearly killed her by accident. Without really thinking he said, "I'm sorry," and then ran off into the trees.

He didn't know how long he ran before Tyler caught him. "Hey, Seth! Stop!!"

Seth did stop, but didn't look at Tyler, "I don't know how I did it. I could have killed her!! So just get away from me," Seth said frantically. Tyler came next to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's just have a chat," he said gently. Seth let Tyler turn him around and face him. "Unwind Seth, it's alright. Sometimes abilities can get out of control, and that's what part of this school is about. Helping you be comfortable with your ability and not being afraid of it. In time you'll be so relaxed with your ability that you won't even have to think about doing something wrong." Seth just looked at the ground, knowing that Tyler was just trying to make him feel better so he could go back to the school.

"I'm a freak, even among people with abilities. Just a freak, you realize I had no idea what I was doing and nearly killed her. You can't fool me that this happens all the time. Everyone was looking at me as if I was some aberration," he paused and murmured, "What is wrong with me?"

Tyler looked at him thoughtfully, "There have been many abilities in this school, many of them have been much worse than yours. One of these abilities was to be able to kill someone by just touching them. This person grew up learning to control her ability and she used it only for good, usually to help the dying ease their way home." Seth shook his head.

"My ability is worse, at least she can control whom she touches. Me? I just have to see something to know how to do it. For instance, James showed me how to torture somebody horribly. I won't ever be able to forget that and I can do it to a person. It's just my stupid ability," he said coldly. Tyler sighed softly at this.

"It's obvious I won't be able to convince you. In time you'll learn what I'm saying. Its lunch time right now and you're probably hungry, let's go." Seth didn't do anything and let Tyler lead him out of the woods.

When he came to the cafeteria, he saw almost everybody was there. He went over to the lunch table and put a few slices of pizza on his plate and looked around for anybody familiar. He saw Nile and Ryan sitting at the same table they had been sitting at for breakfast. He told himself not to be a coward and go over to them and hope they didn't think he was a killer.

Seth went over to the table and sat down. Instantly everyone at the table stopped talking. They were probably talking about him.

"Um, hi guys," he said awkwardly. Nile smiled at him, "Hi Seth, we were just talking about you," he said quickly.

Dusty roller her eyes at him, "What he means is that we were talking about what you did in hand fighting. That is pretty cool that on your first class you beat Cindy, she deserved it anyway, she's extremely bossy and I hate her. She thinks she's better than all of us and not to mention is Kirsten's best friend."

"Dusty's right," said Ryan, "I'm glad you kicked her ass. Too bad you didn't kill her though." Seth smiled and relaxed, they didn't care. At least it seemed like they didn't.

"So, Seth," said Nile in an earnest voice, "Since you're so good at Mental Studies could you help me with my homework. I don't get anything it says." The whole table laughed at this.

"Nile you are always worried about homework," said Ryan, "One day you'll begin to understand that detention is better." Dusty glared at her brother, "Don't listen t him Nile, detention is not better," she said coolly.

Seth bit into his pizza, glad that he was accepted, maybe what Tyler had said was true after all, but then why had they looked at him weirdly when he had nearly killed Cindy? The whole thing just didn't make sense.

Chapter 14

In the few years that followed Seth learned many things such as fencing, knife fighting, history tracing back billions of years, gymnastics, running, sprinting, gun fighting, poetry, survival skills, medicine, hiking, boating and driving.

His favorites were gun fighting and driving. In gun fighting they were given real guns and he would have to shoot at targets. At first it was just regular bulls eyes targets, but then he moved onto moving objects. He learned how to shoot from many different kind of guns from old fashioned pistols to modern machine guns that could shoot bullets at 800 to 900 rounds a minute. He was a master at shooting, even better than some of the teachers, but not as good as the teacher of the class. The teacher was the Arab guy whose name was Muphrid. He was a mysterious fellow. Every time Seth copycatted his shooting, he would find out that Muphrid was even better, he was so good that he never unleashed at how good he actually could shoot.

In driving they had many different types of cars from rusty Holdens to sleek shiny Ferrari's and gigantic Hummers. The Hummers were the hardest to drive fast because they were so big.

There were four training routes for the cars, the first as the easiest course to drive and the fourth as the hardest course. His favorite course was the third because it wasn't too hard to drive but it wasn't too easy either. Since he was young he wasn't allowed to drive the faster, expensive cars, but Matt managed to convince the teachers to let him. Every month there was a car race, but you had to be one hundred and Seth at this time was only twenty four. One time he had watched one of the car races with Nile, Ryan, and Dusty and it was brutal.

It was July and very hot out. He saw that the racers were Doria and a man named Nathan. It was a Hummer race, and everyone knew that Doria and Nathan we're the best student drivers in SATS, so this was a big race. Almost all the students and adults were there getting ready to watch the race. Nile had managed to steal some popcorn from the kitchen and they were snacking on it.

"Who do you bet is going to win," Nile asked. Seth looked at the drivers, "I would think that Nathan should win. He looks more experienced."

Dusty and Ryan shook their heads at this, "No Doria should probably win this race. He's been training for years and not to mention has suffered a lot of detentions for it," said Dusty, grabbing a few pieces of popcorn and eating them.

"You wanna bet," Seth asked playfully.

Ryan smiled, "Bring it on. If Doria wins, you do my homework for me for three years and if Nathan wins I'll help you get into Matt's office."

Dusty looked at Ryan in surprise, "You would help him do that? Wow, that's amazing." Seth also looked in disbelief at Ryan, "That's a deal," he said putting out his hand. Ryan shook it, "Deal," he said.

Seth was glad that Ryan would help him if Nathan won; he had been trying to get in Matt's office for some time now to try to find out more about himself. He had found out that Matt had information about everyone at SATS in his office and he wanted it badly. Unfortunately his office was charmed against any intruder, so it was almost impossible to get in and no one wanted to help him.

Nile smiled, "I'm voting for Nathan, he seems like he should win, but I'm making no bets." Ryan shrugged, "Suit yourself."

It was then a booming voice rose around the stadium, "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I WOULD LIKE TO PRESENT YOU TO A VERY EXCITING RACE THAT WE DON'T HAVE MUCH OF AROUND HERE; A HUMMER RACE AGAINST TWO MAJOR WINNERS OF CAR RACING, DORIA AND NATHAN!!"

Cheering erupted around the stadium. "NOW IN A FEW MINUTES THE RACE WILL BEGIN, SO HANG TIGHT TO YOUR SEATS BECAUSE WHAT A RACE WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TODAY!" More cheers sprang around the crowd and Doria and Nathan climbed into their gigantic Hummers. He heard them start with a roar. The race course was the second hardest one in SATS. So it wasn't too hard, but it still was dangerous.

"RACERS, ARE YOU READY!!" said the booming voice, "ON YOUR MARK…..GET SET……..GO!!!!!"

Immediately the Hummers sprang into action. It was amazing at how fast they could go with those gigantic cars. They had to complete the course three times before they could cross the finish line. Nathan was winning a first and looked to be about a quarter of a mile ahead of Doria when suddenly his Hummer started catching up.

Seth found himself cheering for Nathan to move faster. They soon finished the course once. Just two more times to go, he thought. Doria was by this time neck and neck with Nathan's Hummer. They were soon separated by what looked like only a few inches.

They finished the course twice when Doria's Hummer slammed into Nathan's Hummer. Instantly Nathan's Hummer swung out of control, you could tell he was trying to stop it from swerving into the trees that were just a few meters away from him. But it was hopeless and the Hummer swerved out of control and slammed into a tree. The Hummer instantly exploded into flames. Doria's Hummer didn't stop until it finished the race.

None of the students cheered and some teachers and Healers were going down to the wreckage at once. One of the Healers opened the car door and pulled Nathan from the burning car. He didn't look too great, it looked like one of his arms was barely attached to his shoulder and his body was covered in numerous cuts and burns. Immediately the healers laid him down on the grass and began using their abilities to help him. When they could do no more they carried him into the school.

Seth saw that Doria had gotten out of the car and was making his way toward Nathan.

"Do you think he did it on purpose," he murmured to no one in particular. Nile nodded, "I saw that he did. Didn't you see that he purposely moved the car to the right so that Nathan would crash, just so he could win? That was no fair race."

Ryan nodded, "You're right it was not a fair race. I hope Nathan's going to be okay though, he looked pretty terrible."

Dusty nodded, "He'll be fine; the Healers rarely let someone die by a car crash." Seth stood up, "I'm going to go get started on your homework, Ryan."

Ryan shook his head, "If it isn't a fair race, it isn't a fair bet. How about you do my homework and I'll help you get into his office." Seth looked at Ryan in disbelief, "Really?" Ryan nodded, "As long as you do my homework."

Dusty rolled her eyes at him, "He will do anything just to get his homework done for him. Me, on the other hand, suggest you don't even try to get in. It's impossible and if you get caught, I mean, when you get caught you will probably have detentions for fifty years," she said.

Seth shrugged, "It's worth it and besides Nile is going to help us. Since he can teleport he might be able to teleport us in there if it isn't charmed against it and Ryan could try using his ability to help un-charm it."

"Well don't blame me when you get caught and you can't get the information you want," said Dusty standing up, "Now if you'll excuse me, classes start in a couple of hours and I need to study for the test on Thursday." She waved a quick goodbye before she left.

"So what is your plan of getting into Matt's office?" asked Nile. Seth smiled, "I have a plan, but we're going to have to go right now." Ryan and Nile looked at him in incredulity, "You're joking," said Ryan in amazement, "We're going right now when we don't even don't know your plan."

Seth nodded, "It's perfect, Matt will probably be checking on Nathan and so will most of the teachers so we won't have to worry about running into any of them."

"I agree," said Nile, "let's go right now before he happens to go back to his office while we just sit here." Seth looked at Ryan and he looked a bit unsure, "Okay," he said slowly.

Nile stood up and so did Ryan, "Let's go," he said. They walked along the stadium and eventually made their way through the crowds. They walked in the hot summer sun and Seth led them into SATS and to the part where most students don't go. They took a few turns before they came to the door of the office. It looked like a plain, ordinary door, but they weren't fooled.

Seth had found out Matt's office by Lyle who had tried breaking into his office before, but had gotten caught by the charms around it. Seth took a deep breath, "Okay Nile, try to see if you can teleport in there." Nile nodded, looking nervous.

He watched Nile, but he was still there after a few minutes."I can't teleport in," he said in surprise.

Seth was surprised also, "Okay, let's move on to plan B. Ryan try to unlock the charms into summer." Ryan nodded and closed his eyes; a glow soon emanated from his fingers and began to collect on the door. Soon it was glowing brightly, like the sun. Ryan held it there for a few moments before letting it go.

Seth looked at the door closely, but it didn't seem to have changed at all. Well, it didn't hurt to see if the door would open.

"Here goes," he said quietly. He went toward the door and grabbed the handle. Taking a deep breath, he turned the handle and was stunned when it opened. He sighed in relief and went inside. Ryan and Nile went toward the door also, but when they tried to get in an invisible barrier prevented them. Immediately a ringing began drumming in their ears. Ryan and Nile looked at each other in horror and Seth quickly looked around in the office.

There was a desk in the middle with a computer and many papers. He quickly looked on the desk for any information, but the papers were only about The Society. He began looking in all the drawers when he found folders with students' names on them. They were in no particular order and he began scanning them for his name. He knew he should probably get out, but he had to find it.

"Seth, come on. We're going to get caught," said Ryan frantically.

"Go on without me, I'll meet you in a moment." His friends didn't need to be told twice and they ran from the office.

Seth couldn't find his name, he scanned the folders again, but his name was nowhere to be found.

"You won't find it Seth," said a calm voice. Oh damn! He had been caught. He turned around to find Matt gazing at him serenely. He sighed in defeat and closed the drawer.

"I thought you might sneak into here and knew you wouldn't set off my alarms. So as an extra precaution I took your papers and put them somewhere else." Seth looked at him in astonishment, "Why do you care? I just want to find out about who my parents are. Why can't I?" he said angrily.

"I don't mind that you want to know about your parents. I just mind that you look in the file because it has some information that I would only like you to find out when you are older," Matt said, walking toward him.

"If you don't mind if I find about my parents. Can you at least tell me who they are? That's all I want to know," he said irritably.

Matt smiled and nodded, "Of course, but you do realize that breaking into my office is an instant seventy year detention with me?" Seth nodded, "I know," he said.

Matt nodded, "Your parents were great people, your mom was named Elizabeth and she was a shop keeper's daughter. She was a very sweet girl and loving. I remember when she first came to SATS; she was just a little older than you right now. She loved it here and never wanted to leave. She fell in love with your father at the age of two thousand."

"Your father was a very handsome guy. Most girls who saw him fell in love with him instantly, but he had eyes only for Elizabeth. Unfortunately your father was captured by The Society and your mother was so blind as to go after him. She was killed doing this and I believe you father is still alive in The Society. We didn't know that Elizabeth had a baby, until just a few years ago. Now, have I satisfied your question?"

Seth nodded, most of the information he had said he already knew. His father was still alive in the Society and his mother had been killed. He had found out a little more about them, but not that much. Maybe he could meet his father one day, if James hadn't killed him already, that is.

"Your detentions will be from when seven p.m. to three a.m. and you will meet me outside by the stables every night after dinner," said Matt.

He looked at Matt in disbelief, "What! How am I supposed to finish my homework in time?!! Not to mention have enough sleep to continue with the rest of the day. I'll have like three hours of sleep a day." And he had to do Ryan's homework too, he thought.

Matt looked at him calmly, "That's your problem that you will figure out. Now, you will go down to the stables every night and I expect you to go down there starting today." Seth was about to protest again, but thought better of it. "Yes sir," he said beaten.

"Good, you may leave," said Matt, dismissing him. Seth was about to leave when he remembered something.

"Sir," he asked, "You said you knew I wouldn't set off the alarms and you were right, and I didn't. How?"

Matt went over to his desk and sat down, "I guess it's just part of your ability, now Seth I have work to do and I assume you do to, so please leave."

Knowing he shouldn't ask any more questions, he left without a word.

By the time he came to his dormitory, he felt like punching the wall. For seventy years he would have to have a detention every day. That was 25,550 detentions and each was eight hours! How could Matt do this to him, he would have absolutely no free time to do anything. He sighed and opened up the dormitory door. He saw Nile and mostly everyone else was working on their essays for history and Ryan was just relaxing in a chair.

"Hey Seth," said Ryan brightly, "Here's my history essay; you can get started on it." Ryan handed him the essay and he reluctantly took it and sat down on the carpet.

"You don't look very happy, is it because you now have extra homework to do and because you couldn't find your file," said Ryan.

Seth glared at Ryan, "No, it's not because of that, it's because I'm the one who got caught in Matt's office, so I get seventy years of detention and each one is EIGHT FRICKIN HOURS!" he said heatedly. The whole room became silent at this and Ryan looked embarrassed, "Take it easy Seth, but I have to admit that's a ton of long detentions," he said, trying to cool him down.

He ignored Ryan and wrote his history essay furiously. He was done a minute later. "Here's your stupid history essay," he said slamming it into Ryan's hand. Ryan looked at him in shock. He didn't care that he had made Ryan mad; he didn't care about anything except of how he just wanted to throw himself off a cliff and die.

"Are you alright Seth," said Nile worriedly, "you don't usually act like this."

"I'm fine," he said angrily and then stomped up the stairs to his bed. He lay down on his bed and found he didn't feel good. His head felt like it was on fire and his stomach hurt like Hell. He groaned, feeling like he was going to vomit. He stood up from the bed and crossed his arms around his stomach, trying not to throw up until he came to the bathroom. He barely made it to the toilet before he started retching. He retched and retched until there was nothing left in his stomach. When his body stopped retching he started to feel extremely dizzy.

He forced himself to open up the stall of the bathroom and go over to the sink. He turned the faucet on and washed his mouth out with water. When he was done he felt like fainting.

Was he dying, he thought to himself. He put his hand on his head, trying to calm down the burning inside of it. He then forced himself to walk out of the bathroom. He barely made it ten steps before he fainted.

Chapter 15

When he awoke he was in a warm bed with white sheets. He sat up and saw that his headache was gone and his stomach didn't hurt anymore. He looked around and saw he was in a hospital. A Healer seeing him up, made her way toward him, she was carrying a glass of water with her.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him as she set the water on the bedside table.

"I'm fine," he said, "What exactly happened to me? Was it some kind of weird sickness?" The Healer smiled, "So you don't know that as an ability person grows older their ability matures and can bring some changes to their body. Some changes can be slight and barely noticeable, but others can be painful. Luckily they only usually last a few hours. Although they usually happen when you are one to two thousand years old," she said gently, "Now it was lucky that one of the boys found you past out on the floor, otherwise you would be in a lot more pain right now. We Healers tend to make the process faster than normal."

Seth nodded in understanding, "Who found me?" he asked.

The Healer took the water and gave it to him, "Nile found you, and he was very worried. Now drink some water and I'll give you a mirror."

Seth looked at Healer in confusion, "A mirror? Why?" The Healer stood up and went over to some drawers, "I told you that when your ability matures, so does your body. When this happens, most people want to see what they look like after the process is over."

Seth took a drink of the water and realizing how thirsty he was, drank the whole glass. The Healer then gave him a mirror, "Here, see what you look like."

Seth took the mirror and almost dropped it in shock. Who he saw in the mirror didn't look like him, this person was taller, more well-built. His eyes were a darker green now, not as bright. His face was baby smooth and his hair was not as soft. Seth looked at his arm and saw that the scar that James had inflicted on him was still there, except it wasn't crimson.

He gasped at this transformation. The Healer smiled at him, "A little scary, isn't it. Matt told me to tell you that there won't be any detention for you today because of this, but there will be one tomorrow."

"Matt was here?" he said surprise. The Healer nodded, "he wanted to see if you were okay. Now since it's almost eight p.m. I will let you to go to your bed, but before you do I'll get you some dinner." Seth yawned and nodded, he was for some reason extremely tired even though he had just slept five hours.

The Healer left and Seth lay down again. At least he got to miss detention today, but he had to apologize to Ryan about his behavior.

When the Healer came back she was holding a tray of fried chicken and mashed potatoes. She set the tray down on the bed, "Here you go and tell me when you're done."Seth nodded and took the tray and bit into the chicken.

When he had learned about the different jobs in SATS he found that there were the Fighters, who were the people that protected and fought The Society. The Healers, who helped cure people of mental and physical illnesses and wounds. The Helpers, who were given regular jobs such as cooking, breeding horses and getting clothes for everyone. The Rescuers, who helped rescue people with abilities from The Society and lastly were the Teachers. Teachers usually had two jobs they could be Helpers, Rescuers or Fighters, but none of them were Healers. If Seth could pick a job, he would probably be a Fighter at first to kill James and then become a Rescuer. The most common job that was given to a graduate at SATS was being a Helper, it also happened to be one of the most boring.

When Seth was done with his chicken and mashed potatoes, the Healer told him she would escort him to his dormitory. Seth stood up and let her lead him back to the school.

The night was warm and clear as he breathed in the cool air. He looked at the black sky and saw Scorpius, Draco and Hercules constellations glimmering brightly in the night. He suddenly wished he could just stay out there forever just enjoying the night sky. He had always loved the dark, it was just his element.

The Healer led him from the hospital and past many houses toward SATS. When they came to the door of his dormitory the Healer smiled at him, "If you have any problems medically, you can just stop by."

"Thanks for everything," he said as she walked away.

"It's just my job," said the Healer, before disappearing around the corner.

She's busy, he thought, before opening the door. He saw everyone was studying like usual. They looked up at him as he opened up the door and just stared at him in shock. Feeling very self-conscious, Seth looked for Ryan and saw he was studying. He went over to him, "Hey Ryan, I'm sorry about this afternoon I wasn't feeling good and I-."

"You don't have to apologize," said Ryan looking up, "It's just…..Oh my god!" he said looking at him in astonishment, "Y-You've changed. Jeez! I didn't know that when your ability matures it changes someone that much."

Seth laughed at this, "Why are you doing your homework, we had a deal remember? Here give it to me; I'll finish it in a few minutes." Ryan looked about to protest, but the thought of having no homework stopped him, and he gave him his essays and books. Seth took them and began writing down the essay in Ryan's form (he had copycatted it) and in about two minutes it was done and he went on to the other papers.

"I'll still have to study for the tests," said Ryan, settling in the chair he was in, "But with no homework, that should be easy peesy." Seth nodded, finishing with Ryan's last piece of homework.

"Here you go," Seth said, handing him the essays.

Ryan looked at them in amazement, "You wrote all this in five minutes tops! Man, you're fast."

Seth shrugged and yawned, "Look, I'm really tired. I'll see you in the morning," he said standing up.

"Yeah, see you in the morning," said Ryan reading the essays.

When Seth came to his bed, he collapsed onto it and fell asleep instantly.

He dreamed confusing dreams of killing and his horse, Darkmoon. He woke up, sweating, like usual. At least he didn't scream anymore. He looked out the window and saw it was dawn. Time to get up, he said to himself.

He went down to breakfast and immediately noticed all the girls staring at him, but the one girl he noticed the most was Ivy. He hadn't talked to her for a few years and they rarely saw each other. Maybe he could just chat with her for a few minutes. It wouldn't hurt to just talk to her. Taking a deep breath he went over to her.

"Hey Ivy," he said friendlily. She turned around abruptly and looked at him in alarm.

"Wow Seth. You've changed," she said breathlessly, "What are you….doing here?" Seth knew he had caught her off guard and he used it to his advantage.

"I just wanted to say hi because I haven't talked to you in a few years and I thought it was rather rude," he said coolly. Some of Ivy's friends came next to her, seeing she was talking to him.

Ivy looked at a loss of what to say, "Yeah….I guess it is a little rude." Seth smiled at her and some of the girls giggled at this.

"Looks like Ivy's a little shy," said a blonde, "I guess she isn't used to boys quite yet, but I'm more than willing to have a little chat with you, Seth," she said flipping her hair back.

Seth shook his head, "Sorry, it's just Ivy and I used to be friends and I just wanted to catch up a little." This is getting a little dangerous, he thought to himself, as more girls began crowding around him and Ivy.

"Aren't we friends," said an attractive voice. Instantly the crowd of girls began to make room for Kirsten as she came through. His mind began to feel foggy and he quickly shook it. Be calm, he told himself, don't let her attract you.

"Sorry Kirsten, if you haven't forgotten you got humiliated last time we tried to be friends," he said coldly.

Kirsten's looked at him in confusion, "It was my understanding that you we're the one who was humiliated, Seth." He looked around and saw there were no teachers in the room. Just great, he thought, now she could attract him as much as she wanted.

"Look Kirsten," he said trying to shake her off before she could make him do something really humiliating, "Face the truth, I-." Before he could finish his sentence though, Kirsten came toward him and kissed him on the lips. Immediately he was under her power, the kiss sent a warm tingling up and down his body and he thought, maybe Kirsten wasn't that bad.

She smiled at him, "You want another one," she murmured. And before he could say anything began kissing him slowly. She tasted like strawberries and he suddenly wanted more, Kirsten then twisted her hand in his hair and he put his hand on her back.

Then she pulled away and smiled wider, "You're a good kisser," she murmured. Seth just stood there gawking like an idiot. She then touched his face gently, before walking away.

Seth just stood there for a few minutes without moving, until his brain snapped back to him. Realizing what she had done to him, he felt his face grow flaming hot. Everyone had just seen that. This is what Kirsten wanted, for him to be humiliated horribly.

He took a deep breath and walked past all the students. All of them stared at him and giggled. How embarrassing, he thought to himself, to be watched while he kissed someone he hated and it actually looked like he had wanted her. He just wanted to twist her neck till it broke, she was lucky he wasn't doing it right now.

He walked out of the cafeteria quickly, deciding to skip breakfast and found himself going out the door and to the stables. He went to the back of the stables and stood there in the clearing. A few minutes later Darkmoon came next to him. He stroked the horse's silky neck, "Hey Darkmoon, how you doing today," he murmured to him. Darkmoon nudged him in the chest and Seth smiled, beginning to relax.

"Skipping breakfast," said a voice. He turned around and saw Liz looking at him. "You know you're not allowed to be here this early," she said.

Seth continued stroking Darkmoon, "Please, I just wanted to alone for a bit."

Liz sighed and came next to him, "I guess it's alright. You look like you need it anyway."

"Thanks, I do need it," he said gratefully.

Seth stroked Darkmoon along the ears and he snorted, pawing the ground with his hoof. Liz smiled at this, "Since Darkmoon picked you, I'll let you come to the stables whenever you want. Besides, horses are very good for just relaxing and being you."

"Thank you," he said respectfully.

Liz shook her head, "Don't thank me, thank the horse." Seth smiled and hugged Darkmoon around the neck, "Thank you."

After being with Darkmoon, he went to the first class of the day which was hiking and endured his friends joking about him and Kirsten. The rest of the day passed fast and soon it was already the end of dinner and it was time for his first detention.

He walked to the stables for the second time that day and saw Matt was waiting for him. "Hello Seth," he said in his usual calm voice.

Seth nodded to him, "Hello."

Matt walked toward him, "Since this is your first detention, we'll take it easy." Seth looked at him in confusion, "What exactly am I going to be doing?"

Matt smiled, "Every day I'll have something different depending on what needs to get done. Today I want you to clean up the stables. It should only take a couple of hours." Seth looked at Matt in disbelief, "Clean out the whole thing?!" Matt nodded, "I suggest you get started."

Sighing, Seth went inside the stables and looked at it in disbelief. It looked like someone had just torn everything apart. The hinges on stall doors were almost all the way ripped out. Riding equipment was strewn around the whole barn and all the hay needed to be changed. Not to mention there seemed to be even more horse poop then he thought possible. The only positive thing about the whole place was that the horses were gone so it would be easier to clean it.

"You did this mess on purpose," he said to Matt.

He just smiled and said, "Just start cleaning; I have many other things I want you to do today also."

Seth sighed, not knowing where to start. He decided to pick up all the riding equipment first so he could get all the dirty hay out and replace it with a fresh batch. The stink was terrible as he moved the riding equipment into the appropriate bins. When that was done he took a pitchfork and looked around for a wheelbarrow. He found one in the left corner of the stable and began scooping hay with the pitchfork into the wheel barrow. When it was full of hay he wheeled it outside and dumped it into the woods. He did this process about a hundred times before all the dirty hay was finally gone from the stable.

During this whole process, Matt was just looking at him patiently. "Don't you have better things to do then watch a boy clean up a stable," he asked in the middle of scooping up hay.

Matt smiled, "That doesn't concern you right now, does it? Continue," he said gesturing to the hay.

When all the dirty hay was gone from the stable, Matt shape shifted the air into loads of fresh hay. Seth groaned, and carried the batches of hay in to the barn and started spreading it everywhere. When that was done he went over to the toolkit at the back of the barn and hammered the hinges back onto the stall doors. He then went over to Matt. "Done," he said, exhausted.

Matt looked at the sky, "It's midnight now, we have three hours left, that should be enough time for you to clean up the horses, won't it?" Matt then whistled and what looked like to be a hundred mud spattered horses came.

"I would like you to scrub down these horse good and clean the dirt from their hooves. When this is done you may leave. Now I have to go right now, but don't even try to go to bed if all the horses aren't cleaned up because I will know and your detention the next day won't be very great," Matt said before he left.

"Goodbye to you too," he murmured. He was beginning to really hate Matt and his detentions. Sighing, he took a hose from the barn and began spraying and combing each horses coat. He would then scoop out dirt from each hoof. It was about six in the morning when he was done.

Completely exhausted, Seth made his way to his bed. He collapsed fatigued and was asleep in a few moments.

He was woken in what felt like seconds later by Nile, "Hey Seth, classes start in ten minutes. Get up."

Seth groaned and rolled onto his side, "Leave me alone, I don't want to wake up," he said grumpily.

Nile shook him again, "Come on Seth; wake up……fine then." He heard Nile walk away and he closed his eyes in relief. Sleep….…that's all he wanted.

It was then Nile splashed freezing cold water onto his face. He sat up in shock, "What the Hell! What was that for?"

Nile shrugged, "I don't want you to get more detentions, and you just slept through breakfast." Seth sighed and stood up. His limbs felt like jelly, but he forced himself to walk toward the sink. He looked in the mirror and saw his hair was matted with straw and mud. His face was also spattered with muck. He turned the faucet on and washed all the dirt from his face.

When he was done washing up himself, he went with Nile to fencing. The day passed fast and he began wishing that Matt will be gone so he could get some sleep. But when it was time for his detention, Matt was there waiting.

"Did you have a good night sleep?" Matt asked him.

Seth glared at him, "If you call a goodnight sleep two hours, then yes I did."

Matt nodded, "Yesterday was just the first day, so we'll take it a little harder today. Follow me," he ordered.

Seth let out a sigh, he thought yesterday was easy? He must be joking. He then followed Matt into town. They walked past a few houses before they came to some sort of warehouse. They walked inside and saw it was covered in large cardboard boxes. He guessed they each weighed one hundred fifty pounds each. Matt gestured toward the boxes, "I want you to move all these boxes to the hospital building. They just shipped some medicine and equipment, but they loaded it into the wrong building. I want you to put the boxes onto a cart that is waiting there. When you're done with that I'll have a few more things for you to do," said Matt casually.

Seth looked at all the boxes in disbelief, there had to be at least eight hundred boxes. He bit his lip from refraining to say a sarcastic comment. He went toward the first box and picked it up. Oh my god was it heavy! He was wrong, they didn't weigh one hundred fifty pounds, they weighed at least two hundred. There had to be some really heavy medical equipment in the boxes to be this heavy. He heaved the box in a better grip in his hands and walked toward the direction of the hospital. When he came to the place he saw there was a large cart and he put the box onto it. Just a few hundred more to go, he told himself.

By the time he was on his hundredth box, his arms felt like they were about to fall off. Sweat was dripping down his forehead and into his eyes just making it harder for him to see. It was the hundred fifty ninth box when he had to sit down and rest. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and took deep breaths. Matt was looking at him calmly, "The faster you get done with these boxes, the faster you can move on to your other project."

"Yeah…I know," Seth gasped, annoyed, "I just…need to…rest….a little."

Matt shook his head, "No, get up and get moving." Seth groaned and stood up and moved to the next box.

Four hours later Seth loaded the eight hundred tenth box onto the cart and collapsed next to it, gasping for air. His arms felt like they had been pulled off, and his whole body was aching horribly. Matt came toward him, "You can rest for a few more minutes and then I want you to come with me," he said coolly. Seth nodded weakly, just wanting to fall asleep and never wake up again.

Matt let him follow him slowly. They came to SATS and Matt led him to the kitchen. He looked in horror at it. There were hundreds of dirty dishes lying by the sink, just waiting to be cleaned.

"No, you can't make me do that. It will take all night," he said in astonishment.

"Yes, you will clean till there is not one dirty dish left and then you may go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow," Matt said nonchalantly. Seth watched him go, too tired to be annoyed or angry. He went over to the sink and filled it with hot water and soap. Then he began cleaning.

He cleaned and cleaned and cleaned.

By the time he was on the last dish, he heard students coming down to the cafeteria. No sleep today Seth, he told himself. He forced his aching body to walk out of the kitchen and to the cafeteria. He barely saw where he was going, and barely acknowledged that he had just sat down at his usual table with Ryan, Nile and Dusty.

"Hey Seth," said Ryan, "I didn't see you get your bed last night. Don't tell me he made you work all night."

Seth just laid his head on the table, "Leave me alone," he said tiredly. But it actually came out as, "Lurve mer aleone." His friends didn't even try to talk to him after he said that. Seth closed his eyes in relief, just wanting to go to sleep.

Chapter 16

In the next few months Seth found himself falling asleep in class and doing sloppily on all his exams because of physical exhaustion and lack of sleep. In fencing and gun fighting he came from being the best to the worst and the teachers didn't even let him drive cars.

The only thing he thought about was sleep. The only thing he wanted to do was sleep. He found he wasn't eating much anymore because he slept during meals. Detentions with Matt were the worst part of the day. Every night was worse than the last. Most of the time Matt would let him leave at dawn letting him have an hour of sleep.

His friends also began worrying about him, saying he should talk to Matt about letting him sleep some more. He noticed that Ryan didn't give him his homework anymore, probably because he did an even sloppier job with it than he did.

Years passed and his body began to adjust to having only a couple hours of sleep. His body became stronger and he began to do better in class again. He was fifty five and it was Christmas, so it was a free day when it happened. At the time, they were outside throwing snowballs at each other,

"Take this," said Nile throwing a gigantic snowball at his face, he easily dodged it and sent one flying back to him, but it hit midair. Nile had teleported behind him and thrown a snowball down his back. Seth gasped as the cold snow turned into icy water and dribbled down his back.

"You're going to pay for that," he said, laughing and began scooping as much snow as he could into one gigantic snowball. He was about to throw it when he heard a scream. It was a long high pitched scream that went on for several minutes before it quieted. Everyone was silent when Eleanor came out of SATS, looking extremely alarmed.

"Run!!" she screamed. No one needed to be told twice and we were all suddenly running toward the forest as fast as we could. Lyle was the first one in the trees when Eleanor said, "Stop."

Eleanor was looking really scared as she came next to Lyle. It was then they saw Society people holding guns come up over the hill. Seth closed his eyes, they had found them.

Then the Fighters came, most of them were holding guns some others were holding knives. He saw Matt was ordering them in different positions; there was no fear or alarm on his face, in fact if anything it was calm.

"Get the students to the forest, Eleanor. We'll take it from here, try to get as far away from us as possible, you understand?" said Matt commandingly.

Eleanor nodded, "Yes Matt, come on you guys, let's go." Almost all of the students were obedient and followed Eleanor. Everyone except him. Where were the other students? Were they trapped in the school? Without really thinking Seth started running toward the door of the school.

"Seth!" said Nile in horror, "What the frickin Hell are you doing?!!" He ignored Nile and came to the door. He quickly turned the knob and opened it. He promptly went in the school. It was pitch black. That's weird, he thought, it was usually brightly lit. He then felt a hand on his shoulder; he turned around quickly and saw it was Matt.

"Their gone, Seth. They were taken a few minutes ago," said Matt sadly. Seth looked at him in horror.

"Th-they're gone," he said shakily, "What, how? That's impossible." Matt said nothing and steered him out the door, "You need to run. He'll be after you the most. This is no time to be brave, you just run as fast as you can." Seth looked away from him. He thought that he had been safe here. That The Society would never find them. He had been wrong

"I'll run," he said and Matt nodded.

"Good, now go," he said taking is hand from his shoulder. Seth ran out the door and made exactly five steps before something hooked around his leg and pulled him to the ground. It was a Purifier.

He screamed as it sent zaps of electricity through him and dragged him across the grass to the owner of it.

"Well, well, well if it isn't Seth," said a cold voice. He knew that voice, the voice that killed and tortured without a thought. That voice was the worst voice in the world. "I was wondering when I would run into you," James continued as Seth screamed and rolled on the ground.

"Let the boy go, James," said Matt icily. James looked up, surprised.

"Hello Mathew, it's nice to see you again, it's been a long time," said James, smiling in pleasure. Matt walked closer to James, pointing a machine gun at him.

"Let the boy go, or things will get messy," said Matt angrily. James sighed and casually pulled out his gun. Seth, by this time, just wanted the Purifier to stop; it hurt too much to have your ability sucking out of you.

"Okay I'll let the boy go," said James as he did the motion to put the whip back in the Purifier. Seth gasped in relief, sucking in air desperately. James then shot a bullet straight at Matt's head, he quickly dodged it. Seth was surprised; he had never seen James miss a killer shot.

Matt then took his machine gun and began shooting bullet after bullet at James. James moved so fast that he was a blur and easily dodged all the bullets from the machine gun. Seth eyes grew wide in shock; he was dodging bullets from a machine gun that could shoot a thousand miles an hour. Matt looked disappointed and dropped the machine gun to the floor because it was out of bullets.

James was smiling cruelly, "Is that the best you can do? You're going to need a lot more skill and bullets to kill me like that." James then fired his gun at Matt and he dodged every bullet that he shot except one which lodged into his arm. James then dumped his empty gun to the ground also.

Matt was breathing hard before he shape shifted some air into another machine gun. "Come on now Mathew," said James carelessly, "Let's have a hand to hand fight between us, until one of us dies, instead of shooting each other. That's what we're good at."

Mathew glared at James and then nodded, "Fine then," he said dropping the gun to the floor. Seth, beginning to feel stronger began to crawl away from James. James saw this and took the Purifier and with it, slammed him into the wall of the school. He heard a crack in his arm and knew it had broken. He gasped as he collapsed in a heap.

"Just to make sure you don't run away," said James uncaringly.

Matt looked at James in resentment, "You're terrible. Is this what you do now to steady your thirst for killing? Picking on a young boy. Have you been doing this ever since she died?"

James looked angry, angrier than he had ever seen him before. He saw that his hands were glowing a dark red. "You will pay for that with your life," said James his whole body now glowing.

Matt looked at him calmly, "Then let the fight begin," he said. Seth saw that James was taking deep breaths and the glow that surrounded him disappeared. He then stared at Matt in a fighting position. Matt did the same and soon they were fighting like he had never seen people fight. They were so fast! He could barely see when they punched or kicked each other. It was all just a big blur. After about fifteen minutes James had taken Matt's shot arm and twisted it. Matt gasped in pain and James quickly hooked his arm around Matt's neck and squeezed.

Matt's face grew red from lack of air and he was struggling from his grip, but James had him firm. "Well, look who won," said James harshly, "I hope you enjoy your last seconds of life." Seth found himself wishing that Matt would try harder and stop James from killing him so easily, but it didn't look like that was going to happen.

"NO!" said a voice and Seth looked in the direction it came from. It was one of the Fighters that was staring at the fight, "Matt, disappear, just disappear," said the woman. Matt looked just about to die when he did disappear into thin air.

James looked angrily at the place where Matt used to be and then at the Fighter who had shouted out at Matt. The woman looked bravely at him and James took the machine gun that Matt had dropped on the floor and shot the woman on the leg. She cried out and collapsed to the ground. James then walked over to her, "Tell me," he said coldly, "Why you just did that. I was about to win. About to silence this damn school, but you had to-."

At that moment a few bullets flew at James, but he easily dodged them and turned around. Four Fighters were standing there, their guns pointing at him. James smiled and took the machine gun in his hands and shot every single one of them in the exact middle of the head. When the last of the Fighters dropped dead, James turned back to the woman. "What was I saying again?" he said icily. The woman was looking at him in terror and James smiled at this.

"I'm going to be nice," he said softly and taking the machine gun in his hands, "I have many things to do today, so I'll kill you quickly." He then took the machine gun and shot her in the head. Seth felt sick, as he looked at the bodies of the last Fighters. He had known some of them and now they were all dead.

James was now talking to one of the Society people, "How many kids do we have?" he asked coolly.

"Ninety eight, sir and we left no one over the age of a thousand. They are all dead or managed to escape. James nodded, "Did you get the kids that escaped into the forest I saw earlier?"

The man shook his head, "No, we didn't sir. We were too busy with the Fighters." James swore and Seth was relieved. Maybe they could escape and hide away from The Society. James then looked at him coldly. Seth tried to move as he made his way toward him. He couldn't.

"Hello Seth, it's been a few years, hasn't it?" he said kneeling down next to him.

"Get away from me!" he said painfully. James smiled and took the Purifier out from his belt.

"I'm a little annoyed with you Seth. You've caused me a lot of trouble and while you were gone I was thinking up many ways of torturing you. So I've decided I'm going to make you do something that is torture enough."

Seth looked at James with anger, "Matt told me about your life and I have pity for you. It must have been hard to lose her." James looked at him angrily, his hands were glowing and then he felt a terrible pain. It was like his bones were filled with a terrible poison and your body was on fire at the same time. He screamed in agony and almost immediately blacked out.

When he awoke his hands and feet were in handcuffs and he was gagged with a grey cloth. He saw he was in a tent of some sort. He wondered what had happened to everybody, all the adults were dead except the one's that managed to escape and most of the students were captured.

He moaned, he felt terrible; every muscle in his body hurt and ached terribly. He tried to sit up and gasped in pain. No, he couldn't sit up. So he just lied there on the dirt ground for a few hours before the tent flap opened. In came James and he looked rather pleased.

"Hello Seth, had a good night?" he said smiling as he came next to him. James then grabbed a fist full of his hair and pulled his head up. He screamed, but it came out as a muffled cry and his eyes began to water. "Let's have a little talk, shall we?" James then kicked him in the stomach, hard.

Seth tried to gasp for air, but it was hard because of the cloth in his mouth. James kicked him four more times and Seth felt about to faint. James, seeing this, untied the gag around his mouth. He sucked in air desperately and then began coughing up blood. It gushed out of his mouth and into the dirt. He guessed that James had broken a few of his ribs and it hurt to breath. James looked at him mildly, "It's nice to see you again," he said.

Seth managed to stop coughing, "W-what d-do you w-want from m-me," he said shakily, "Why d-don't you j-just k-kill me? Why am I s-so d-different from everyone e-else?"

James looked at him calmly, "You really have no idea, do you?" Seth then began coughing up even more blood and James began stroking his hair, "So Matt never told you? I'm not surprised, it would be a shock."

"What…..would be," he started coughing terribly, "A…sh-shock. James smiled and stood up.

"I can't believe that you are totally oblivious. You have the same ability as me Seth. You can control people, torture them and kill them. Our ability just matures over time and it takes many years of training to be able to use it correctly," said James, amused.

Seth looked at James in disbelief, "You're… l-lying! That….c-can't be….my a-ability. I-I'm a c-copycat l-like y-you….said a f-few……years a-ago."

"I was wrong," James said calmly, "When you were in SATS, I began to study you even more. It turns out that your ability makes you a copycat at first, but then, after a few changes you will get all of your ability."

Seth's coughing stopped, it couldn't be true, it just couldn't. And Matt knew about his ability, he had lied to him. He suddenly felt hot tears run down his face; he was a monster, just like James.

"Hard to take in, isn't it? Maybe I'll start using my ability also, just to show you what it does. Oh, and that reminds me I'm going to demonstrate it for you soon," said James horridly.

Seth felt a cold fear in his stomach and also defeat. What would everyone think if they knew he was just like James? He suddenly just wanted to die, so this could all be over.

James knelt next to him and hooked a chain around his bound hands. "How about I show you right now," James said and dragged him out of the tent. Seth screamed in agony and clawed at the ground trying to make him stop. James continued dragging him a few more feet and then stopped. He couldn't help but sob on the ground, it hurt so much. His body felt like it was on fire. What had James done to him?

Seth looked around him and saw many of the students of SATS chained to one another. He saw that some of them had been crying because of the loss of teachers and other adults. All of them were looking at him in horror. He struggled to stop crying and managed too. Why did James have to do this?

By this time, James had gestured to one of The Society people, "Bring me one of the weaker ones." The Society person nodded and went over to a small girl that he remembered could fly. It was one of the most common abilities, but she had to be only eight. She was Russian and didn't know much English.

The Society person released her from her chains and dropped her at James's feet. She was shaking so hard and tears were streaming down her face. "What is your name?" asked James, kneeling by her. The poor girl looked absolutely terrified of James and didn't understand him. James then said in what he guessed was Russian, "Будет вашим именeм? The girl looked even more scared but said in a voice he could barely hear, "Yevgenia." James smiled at this and took the girls hands in his and whispered, "Мнение goodnight, Yevgenia." Immediately the girl crumpled to the ground and died.

"No!" he said in shock. He wasn't the only one who had said it; many of the chained kids from SATS said the same thing. James stood up from the girl's body, "You have seen what just happened. If anyone of you doesn't do as I say, that will be you," said James nastily.

One of the kids spoke up, "Then you might as well kill me because I will never listen to you or join you." The kid was a Chinese guy and there was fear on his face, but he looked determined.

James walked toward him, looking amused, "Do you really want me to kill you? I will gladly do it, maybe take my time a little."

The Chinese boy looked suddenly very scared, but said bravely, "Yes you can kill me. It's better than spending the rest of my life with you!" James sighed and snapped his fingers. The boy began screaming like Hell before he fell to the ground, lifeless. "Anybody else?" said James. No one said anything, "Good."

"Wait," Seth found himself saying, "I have something to say and it is……go…. to…… Hell!!" He barely managed to say that before he had another coughing fit. James came toward him, a smile beginning to creep on his face.

"I see that Seth here has still not learned his lesson. Shall I show him?" said James pitilessly. He then did a weird motion with his hands and he was suddenly in the worst pain in his life. He couldn't explain it, just think of the most painful thing in your life and times that by five million and that was how much it hurt.

He screamed and screamed and screamed.

It seemed to take a lifetime before James stopped the magic. He moaned, his breath coming out in gasps. He felt like he was going die and his body went into unconsciousness.

He woke up in what he saw must be the same hospital in the New York City headquarters. He saw there were tubes attached to him, his shirt was off and his arm was in a cast. He sat up and with his good arm, pulled off all the tubes from his skin. It hurt a little, but he barely noticed. One of the hospital people saw him up and quickly went toward him.

"Calm down Seth, relax for a little while," he said gently.

Seth didn't listen, "Where's James? How did I get here? Where is everyone?" he found that he was freaking out a little.

The man took something from his pocket, "Relax Seth, you will find out soon," he said soothingly. He felt a pain in his arm and he blacked out.

When he woke up, he noticed his wrists and ankles were now in metal bracelets hooked to the bed. The tubes were also back in him again. He struggled against the cuffs, but new it was useless.

Why did this have to happen to him? he thought for the millionth time, why couldn't he just be normal. Live a normal life, not worry about anything. But he wasn't normal, he wasn't normal at all. He had the worst ability in the world and he was in James's hands. He couldn't escape without getting caught. He had to be tortured nearly to death and watch kids die. What kind of a life was this? For a few years he actually thought he had found peace, love and happiness. How long ago those years seemed even though they were probably only a few days ago.

Seth found himself feeling bad for himself and began to cry. He then felt guilty for feeling bad because deep down in his heart he knew that he deserved it. When there were no tears left, Seth just lay there, hoping that the students that escaped were okay. At least there was hope, no matter how small it was, it was still there.

About an hour later the door opened to reveal Eric. He looked terrible; he was thinner and more older looking. But the most horrifying thing about him were the scars on his face. There were so many of them and they were deeply etched into his skin. One of his eyes seemed to have been slashed also and guessed he couldn't see from it. Eric was holding a tray in his hands. He saw it held many different needles and tubes.

Eric knelt by his bed and set the tray down at his feet. "What happened to you?" he said in shock. Eric said nothing and took the long needle filled with a blue liquid and grabbed his good arm. Seth tried to pull it away from him, but the bracelets prevented him. Eric then stabbed it into his arm and he began to feel slightly dizzy.

"That should sedate your ability for a while," Eric murmured. He then took another needle filled with a clear liquid and grabbed hold of his neck. Seth, stunned tried to move his neck from his grip, but it was useless. Eric then injected the liquid into his neck. He cried out and Eric pulled it out. Seth moaned, feeling very woozy. He watched Eric go over to the computer and look at it.

"What are you doing to me?" he said weakly. Eric still said nothing and then the door opened again to reveal James.

"How's he doing? Is it working?" said James coolly. Eric was still typing on the computer.

"It's working, it's all up here," said Eric obediently. James smiled and looked at the computer, nodding.

"It's working very well," said James.

Seth suddenly felt extremely thirsty, as if he had been walking in the Sahara desert for two day without any water. He began to feel very numb and James knelt by his bed, "Well Seth, it seems you have changed a lot since I last saw you. Tell me, when exactly did you change? This doesn't usually happen until you're much older. Tell me Seth and I'll let you sleep for a while."

Seth found it was harder to breathe, "What's happening to me," he said feebly.

James then slammed his fist on the bed, "You're not answering my question! This is getting very irritating. Your questions need to stop," he said angrily.

"Then I don't know why you just don't kill me?" Seth said.

James rolled his eyes, and pressed a button on the computer and he gasped, too weak to do anything else. The compute started beeping faster; he guessed it was his heart beat. "You need to start cooperating, Seth. We're going to have to work on that. Now answer my question, what date was it and don't bother lying, I will know." Seth groaned, whatever James had pressed didn't make him feel that good at all.

"I don't know it was around July sometime," he gasped out.

James rolled his eyes, "Exact date, please. You're a copycat, you should know." James then put his hand on his head, he cried out.

"It was July 13th!!" he said quickly, just wanting the pain to stop. James smiled and went over to the computer and wrote something down. Seth found his body get weaker and weaker. Soon he couldn't keep his eyes open and fell into blackness.

Many days passed with these experiments and Seth began wishing he could be dead. It wasn't his body this time it was his brain. It felt like it was being ripped out of him and he began to have major migraines. He would wake up screaming and not go back to sleep for a few days after that because of the pain. He didn't know what they were doing to him, but he just wanted it to stop.

Eventually the tubes were taken out of him and he woke up in a different room. The room was white, but he saw there were a few windows and it was snowing. He sat up and moaned, his head hurt like Hell. He rubbed it, trying to sooth it. Then it all hit him, the capturing, the killing, and Matt lying to him. So Matt didn't want him to know his true ability because he was afraid it would be a shock? No, he probably didn't want him to know his ability because he was afraid he would use it on his students.

Seth suddenly felt such a violent anger for Matt. He thought he would be a killer, be a monster. But he wasn't that, he would never be like that. It wasn't who he was……..it couldn't be. He looked at the gentle snowflakes falling onto the white ground. This was a pretty big snowstorm for New York; it usually just snowed a couple of inches. But right now it looked to be a few feet.

The door then opened to reveal Diane and James. She was talking angrily to James, but he didn't seem to be listening. Instead he took a gun out of his belt. Seth remembered this was the woman who had caused all this mess. She was the one who had taken James and made him who he was.

James then pointed the gun at Diane, "Why did you lie to me?! I thought I had killed her! It turns out you were lying all along."

Diane looked at the gun calmly, "So you're just going to shoot me James. I thought you knew me better than that." Diane then said a few words and James dropped the gun and collapsed to the ground. You could tell he was struggling with the pain that Diane was causing. "Maybe I should just kill you," she said coldly, "You don't use your ability anymore. So why should I keep you? You have disappointed me so much. I'll just start over and use Seth instead; hopefully he won't be as disappointing"

Diane then said a few more words, but to Seth's surprise, James was smiling. He did a weird motion with his hands and Diane flew across the floor and smacked into a wall. "Who said I didn't want to use my ability anymore? You make me seem weak, but I'm not. You think a little torture magic can affect me anymore? You underestimate me," said James with pleasure and walking toward her.

Diane was struggling against the magic that James caused, but she was making no progress, "All my life," said James coldly, "I've been treated like a dog. I was never allowed to do anything I wanted, nothing. All because of you……. you're lucky that I'm going to enjoy killing you." James then flipped her onto her back and did weird motion with his hand. She instantly began screaming terribly.

Seth looked away from them, knowing it was going to be horrifying. The agonized screams lasted five hours and she thankfully died. James stood up, satisfied, and went over to him. Seth was freaked out by James; he could torture someone in extreme agony for five hours without killing the person. He thought he had been in extreme agony when James had put that knife on him, but that was nothing compared to what he did to Diane.

"How you doing Seth?" he said calmly, "I thought you might want to see that. It felt good to finally _kill_ her." James then sat on the bed and stroked Seth's hair. He shivered, he wanted to just run as fast as he could away from him, but he knew that wasn't going to happen. "Tell me Seth, would you like to learn how to do that. It is one of the simpler things to learn, but it is very effective."

Seth's eyes grew wide, "NO!" he found himself yelling and he stood up quickly, going toward the door. He desperately tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. James was looking at him calmly as he did this. "Relax Seth; I'm not going to make you do it right now."

"Just get away from me," he said frantically. James stood up and flicked his hand. Immediately he was frozen in place. He could only blink; he couldn't even twitch his finger. James walked toward him.

"I'll let you have a few days to recover from your surgery. Then we'll get to work. Now shall we see what it did to you?"

Seth found he was forced to walk toward James and James grabbed his chin and turned his head from side to side. Seth shivered terribly and felt his brain go on fire. He screamed and struggled from James's grip, but it was useless. His eyes rolled to the top of his head and James let him go. Seth began coughing uncontrollably, he felt really sick and his head hurt so badly. James knelt by him and smiled coolly, "You want to know what I did to you Seth? I made a tiny change in your brain. The part that makes you copycat and sedated it for a few years, I don't want you to copycat some of the things I'll be doing. Don't worry though, the rest of your ability still works. You just need some rest for your body to get used to not having to copycat for a while."

James then picked him up like a doll and gently laid him on the bed. His coughing stopped and he moaned. James looked at him calmly, "Sleep tight for daddy," he said softly, before he left.

Seth didn't sleep tight at all. Every time he managed to drop off to sleep, his brain felt like someone was putting white-hot pokers into it. This happened for several hours, until he felt it begin to subside to a dull throb. He closed his eyes in relief and fell asleep in a matter of seconds.

Chapter 17

Seth woke up feeling better. There was no headache and he didn't feel sick at all, in fact he felt a little hungry. He looked at the white ceiling and sighed. What was James planning to do to him? Right now it seemed like he was just toying with him and now that he had killed Diane no one could stop him. James was invincible.

At that moment the door opened to reveal a woman. She had dark hair and soft brown eyes and was carrying a bag with woman sighed softly and said, "So this is who he's obsessed about. You look a little too bony for him, but I guess you're a handsome one."

"What are you doing here?" he asked her. The woman came next to him calmly and began taking things out of her bag. It was some soup, sponge, scissors, clothes and other bathroom stuff.

"James sent me to get you cleaned up for dinner. I'm supposed to help you now, I guess you could call me your servant," she said gently, "Now here's some soup and a sponge. Go get washed up in the shower.  
Seth nodded and took the stuff from her hand, glad he could wash up a little. He felt like he had a layer of filth on his skin. He went toward the bathroom in the room and turned the water on in the shower. Soon it was steaming hot and Seth took his clothes off and stepped into it. The hot water was a relief on his skin and he stood there for a few minutes just soaking it in. He then took the soap and washed all the dirt and blood from his body. He was surprised at how much grime there was on him, he must have looked like a dirtball. He also saw that the woman was right; all the weight he had gained at SATS from his previous visit from The Society was gone. He could count every one of his ribs easily and he saw a lot more of his bones were more prominent then before. He sighed and turned the shower off.

He saw that the woman had laid a towel and some fresh clothes on the bench. He dried himself and put on the clothes. It was a dark blue polo shirt and some jeans. He then came out of the bathroom and the woman was waiting for him, carrying a scissors and a comb.

"You look much cleaner," she said, studying him, "I can actually see the exact color of your skin. Now if you would please sit down, James wants me to cut your hair a little shorter." Seth did as he was told and the woman cut his hair. For a while he was silent and could only hear the snips of the scissors.

"Why does James want this? He asked for you to give me a hair cut? That doesn't sound like him and he wants me to have dinner with him? What is this for?" he asked.

The woman stopped cutting his hair and he found it was up to his chin now. "You will find out," she said coolly, "It is time. Please follow me."

She led him down many stairs and into a dining room. It was a large dark room with a wooden table in the middle that looked like it could seat five people. There were two black candles in the center that were engraved with fiery designs. On the walls of the room were several dark paintings, many of them of people killing each other. One of them showed a woman crying over her dead baby and man standing over them, laughing.

James was standing by one of these terrible paintings, patiently. His dark eyes seemed to glimmer red in the candlelight and Seth shivered involuntarily.

"Sit him down at the table," he ordered. The woman put two hands on his shoulders and led him to the table and he sat down in the chair.

"Here he is, my lord, I cleaned him up as best as I could. Couldn't hide the bruise on his face, though," she said submissively.

James nodded and came next to him and took his face in his hands, "You did a good job. Now leave," he ordered. The woman bowed slowly and left. Then it was just him and James. James let go of his face and Seth looked at the ground, afraid to look at him.

"You look much better than the last time I saw you, but still pretty terrible," he said as he sat down in the chair next to him.

"Why are you doing this?" he said feebly, "Having dinner?"

James laughed coldly, "You amuse me. I never thought someone could be so much fun. Now, to answer your question we're having dinner so you can eat and I can talk. Sitting at a table like gentlemen makes it less likely for me to torture you or accidentally kill you. That would be a shame if I did though, wouldn't it?"

Seth looked at the table, noticing all the knife marks in it, "I wish you would," he murmured.

James looked at him unusually, "Most of my victims are begging me not to kill them and now you want me to kill you. This is turning out better than I thought." James leaned back against his chair, relaxed. He then snapped his fingers and a servant came out of a side door. He was carrying a platter of food and it smelled delicious. He laid it down in front of him and saw it was some baby greens and Chinese noodles. The mouth-watering smell wafted into his nose, but he forced himself to ignore it. He wouldn't eat until he got some answers, or until James made him, he thought unhappily.

James gestured toward the food, "You must be hungry, you eat and I'll talk."

Hunger got the best of him and he soon dug into the noodles. He forced himself to eat slowly, but it was hard. The noodles were so tasty with the juicy soy sauce flavor and the crisp crunch of the vegetables. James studied him while he ate, but he didn't care, it had to have been at least two weeks since he had eaten anything.

"I see that I should feed you more. Sometimes I forget to," said James casually.

Seth stopped eating for second and said, "Do you ever eat?"

To his surprise, James shook his head, "I don't need to anymore. It happens to all ability people after a few million years. You eventually realize that you only need the food from the air, sort of like plants, except we don't need the sun to survive. We do need to drink though, I mostly have water. Don't really prefer the taste of alcohol."

"Do you ever…" Seth paused, "have a longing for the taste of food in your mouth? Don't you miss, like, ice cream or chocolate?"

James flexed his fingers and sighed, "Do your questions ever stop? And no I don't miss that stuff. When you grow older you will understand. Now will you please just shut up," he said.

Seth tried to sigh, but was surprised when he couldn't. He opened his mouth, trying to make a sound, but nothing came out. So James decided to really shut him up, he thought, now how was he supposed to ask about his dad.

"Now Seth," said James with a cold gleam in his eyes, "You're going to help me with finding Mathew. He'll want to have you back, so I want you to go to him. When you find him or when he finds you, say the truth that I sent you. He will then trust you."

Seth looked at James in horror, and tried to protest, but nothing came out of his mouth. James continued, "It really doesn't matter what you do, just as long as you find him and those…….kids. You will stay there a few days, try to act comfortable with them and then I'll come and it will all be over."

Seth began to feel very scared and shook his head. He couldn't do what he was saying, it was all the hope he hung onto. He looked at the remains of his food, he wasn't hungry anymore. James then stood up, "Seth, Seth, don't you realize you don't have much of a choice? You will do as I say and when I say or the consequences will not be so great, you understand?" he said harshly.

Seth shook his head again and he suddenly found himself lying on the floor at James's feet. He tried to sit up, but James's ability prevented him. James then let him use his voice again.

"You can't make me do that! I…I" Seth began coughing horribly, blood spattered out of his mouth and onto the polished marble floor.

James bent down, "What was that you were saying? I'm sorry I can't hear you." What was James doing to him? He coughed and coughed and the blood kept coming out. "You're looking a little pale," said James uncaringly, "Are you ready to start listening to me yet?" Seth nodded, his body starting to go into dangerous convulsions. James did a movement with his hand and the pain stopped. He gasped for air and James picked him up, like he weighed nothing and sat him back down on the chair. His body slumped and he nearly fell off the chair. He felt so weak, like he had just run for two thousand miles with no food, water or rest.

"What did you just do to me?" he asked faintly.

"What did I do to you," said James softly, "I just showed you what it is like not to have your ability. In other words, I stopped your ability from working. You probably would have survived an hour, so I'm glad you decided to cooperate."

Seth shivered and wiped the blood from his mouth with his sleeve. He looked at the floor where he had just lain and saw a pool of red. He felt dizzy just by looking how much blood there was, shouldn't he be dead or at least unconscious. That had to be almost a third of the blood he had had in his body.

"You will leave tomorrow, and I will drop you off in Colorado," James ordered, "I will know where you are at all times, so don't try to avoid them. When you find them, you won't need to do anything except act your part. When a few days have passed I'll come and pick you and the kids up and kill all the rest. Fairly simple, right?"

Seth glared at James, "So if I don't do as you say, you're going to torture me until I say yes?"

James laughed again, "No that would take too long. Instead I'm going to give you a few pieces of Ivy that you can take home if you don't oblige. Maybe a few fingers…….or an arm." Seth felt himself grow cold and he looked away from James, "Or maybe the head, if you wa-."

"SHUT UP!!!" he yelled. James looked at him, mildly surprised by his outburst, "Please," Seth said softly, "I know you can make me do all this, but can you just be pleasant for once. How can you be this evil? I didn't know this evil existed."

"So is that a deal, Seth," said James unemotionally.

Seth nodded weakly and James took him by his hair and pulled him off the chair. He cried out and struggled to get James's hands off. He then let go of him and he shuddered, curling upon himself on the floor.

"Molly," said James coldly, "Take him back to his room and make sure he's ready for tomorrow. I don't want him not being able to walk." The woman, who had helped him wash up before, came toward James and curtsied.

"Yes, my lord," she murmured.

James then kicked him in the stomach before he left. Seth gasped and moaned. No, he thought, he was going to betray everyone, but he couldn't let Ivy just die either. But Matt was going to die too and all those kids would be captured and it would be his entire fault. He knew he should have let Ivy just die, but then James would just figure out another way to make him do it.

Molly then came toward him and knelt next to him, "I guess that wasn't such a nice dinner," she said gently, "Can you walk?"

Seth looked at her, weakly, "I don't know…….I can try."

With Molly's help he managed to stand, but he had to lean on Molly. It was excruciatingly painful to take every step and Molly had to let him stop and rest a few times just to go up a few flights of stairs. They eventually made it to the room and Molly helped him onto the bed. "Try to get some sleep. I don't know how you're going to make it tomorrow. The only thing I can give to you are my sympathies." She then left, locking the door behind her.

Seth closed his eyes and felt tears flow down his face. What was James planning to do with him? He wanted him to become his student, why? James could never die, so he didn't need anyone to take over The Society, and even if he did, why him? He didn't even want to, and he was sure there were many people that would be happy to be a student of James and who would be easier to control than him. He squeezed his eyes tighter and was glad he was left alone just so he could cry.

He eventually dropped off to sleep a few hours later.

When he awoke, he didn't feel that good and he barely made it to the toilet before he began vomiting. There goes my dinner, he thought. He shuddered and leaned against the toilet door, taking deep breaths. His throat felt raw and he wanted to get rid of the terrible taste in his mouth. He flushed the toilet and went over to the sink. He turned on the water and washed his mouth out. After this was done he walked toward his bed and sat on it. He still didn't feel that good and guessed what James had done to him yesterday was finishing running its course.

He lay down and wondered how he was ever going to accomplish finding Matt. He could barely walk ten feet and he was vomiting. Hopefully he would just die and then everything will be over and peaceful.

It was then the door opened and in came Molly. She was carrying a bottle of some liquid in her hand and she looked a little worried about something.

"Is it time?" he asked.

Molly nodded, "Here," she said giving him the bottle, "Drink this, it will make you feel stronger."

Seth looked at the bottle in distaste; it was the same liquid that Diane had given him and he had spat out. The one that tasted like cow liver and dog guts. He closed his eyes and forced the disgusting liquid down his throat. He forced himself not to gag and took a deep breath to steady himself. He felt the usual, very drowsy and dizzy and lay on his bed, waiting for it to pass.

"You may leave now Molly. I'll take it from here," said James, walking through the door. Molly curtsied and left, closing the door behind her. James turned to him, "Our jet leaves in a half an hour and I want to make something clear before you leave. Don't try any funny tricks or you'll find Ivy's head wrapped up in a pink bow with a card that says, To Seth, on it. You got that?"

Seth nodded, looking at his hands. "How do I know you won't just kill her or somebody else while I'm gone?"

James sighed, "I give you my word, although you probably don't believe me when I say that. So I guess you're just going to just have to trust me. Now if you can please stand up, I've got some things to do today besides watching you all day."

Seth felt ashamed at how scared he was of James. His stomach kept twisting into tight knots and he felt a need to run as fast as he could away from him. The problem with that was that the door was probably locked and even if it wasn't, James wouldn't even let him move a step before he would probably get wacked against the wall. He stood up and wasn't surprised when he felt stronger; the effects of the drink were working.

"So are you just going to leave me at some random place in Colorado and expect me to find Matt?" asked Seth.

"No, you won't have to find Mathew. He will find you and trust me he'll know the exact time the moment you step away from me."

"How? Is it part of his ability?" he asked, confused.

James shook his head, "You could say that Matt knows me too well. He probably never told you that he's the younger brother of Diane and when I was a kid we saw each other a little too much. He knows my likes my dislikes, what I've gone through. But he and Diane were so different from each other. Diane wanted everything, she was very selfish. Matt, on the other hand, was selfless. Many times he tried to take me away from Diane, but he never succeeded for she was just too powerful. He then just left me, going off and I never saw him until…..well," A shadow had passed over James's face and he saw unbelievable sadness in his eyes and then anger, "If he hadn't left she would still be ALIVE!" he shouted the last word, anger making him glow bright.

Seth backed away from him, afraid he might take it all on him. James then realized he was getting out of control and took a few deep breaths and the glow died down. "We're going now," he said dimly.

Seth was in shock; Matt was the brother of Diane! There was so much he hadn't told him, so much he had lied to him about. He would get some answers before James killed him.

James led him down a hallway and outside. There was an army jet that looked to be about 18 feet tall and 102 feet in length.

"I'm not going on this jet with you. This is the fastest jet in the world is so you'll be there in about fifteen minutes. The plane will land in the Roosevelt National forest and I'm guessing Matt will find you almost five hours after you land."

Seth nodded, "And then I'm supposed to act all normal even though you're going to kill him. He tried to help you and you repay it back by just killing him."

James looked irritated and tired and he saw by natural extinct his hand move toward his gun, "It's too bad that I need you yet because I feel like taking this gun and smashing your brains out. Now go on and I'll see you in a few days, and you can look forward to some sort of punishment waiting for you." James then pushed him toward the jet and he stumbled.

He walked toward the entrance and saw a crewmember waiting for him. She looked very frightened about something as she led him toward his seat. "There you go," she said quickly and left him by himself.

Seth felt miserable, everything was his fault, everything. SATS was destroyed. Everybody was dead or either captured. Matt was going to be dead and so will everyone else. His mom was dead his sister was dead and it was all because of him. Maybe he should just do suicide so he couldn't cause anymore harm. It would be easy, just open up the plane door and…….jump. It would be so quick and he would barely feel it. Not like when James tortured him. He then felt hot tears rush down his face at such thoughts. What was he becoming?

The plane ride was literally fifteen minutes and the plane descended so fast his ears hadn't even popped. When they had landed the crewmember came, "James told me to just drop you off here." Seth stood up and the crewperson led him off the plane and without saying anything closed the entrance of the plane. A few minutes later the plane rolled on the small concrete platform and flew into the air. Seth watched the plane disappear into the setting rays of the sun. His heart filled with sadness as he looked at the golden rays. Each one of the beams seemed like a band of magic. Who knew that magic could be so peaceful?

He sighed and looked around him. He was in some sort of field. Green and golden grasses swayed in the gentle breeze and crickets hid, chirping in a continuous chorus. His brow furrowed as he saw this. It was so…..unnatural for it to be this peaceful. Yet it was a relief, maybe he could just enjoy this one moment of freedom.

He walked quietly, his feet touching lightly on the grasses, a trick that he had learned at SATS. The wind gently blew strands of black hair from his face and he enjoyed the feeling of calmness.

It didn't last long though.

Matt was standing in the middle of the field, his face was emotionless. His golden hair gleamed and his hands were slightly glowing with magic. He watched him with a knowing gaze, saying nothing.

Seth found himself walking toward him, anger building up inside of him. All the events of the past few days coming up to this one moment. So this is how he decided to meet him, just standing there as if nothing had ever happened. His hands clenched into fists as he came closer. "Hello Seth," said Matt quietly.

He glared at him, feeling like punching him, "Is that all you can say! Hello Seth. You act like I you told me to meet you here. Oh and by the way how come you didn't tell ME!" Seth was suddenly shouting and his hands were shaking, glowing slightly, "How come you didn't tell me my frickin power! You lied to me, told me I'm a copycat when really I'm a _killer._"

Matt looked down, his face looking older. He looked exhausted and if it was under normal circumstances Seth would have felt sympathy for him. "Seth, please, find it in your heart to forgive me," Matt said his voice full of pain, "I know I should have told you, but I just thought you were too young. You should have seen yourself, a skinny boy of sixteen. You were heartbroken and torture had nearly destroyed you. I wanted to protect you and didn't want you to worry anymore. I wanted you to live a quiet life for a while. If I had told you then I was afraid it would have destroyed you. Even as the years went on I couldn't bear to tell you. I told myself I would wait till you were a hundred…..but I guess now that it's too late."

Seth looked away from Matt and out onto the field. The last of the sun's rays were disappearing into the far off hills making them glow orange. "James told me it was also your fault that Elizabeth died. He told me you just left him and then she dies six weeks later because you weren't there to stop your _sister _from killing her!"

Matt closed his eyes, "I'm ashamed to call Diane my sister and there was no reason why I had to tell you. That's personal information. But Seth…….you must understand I left because she was pregnant with James's son. If Diane ever found out about this it would have been a disaster. Seth, I'm sorry and it's time I told you. You're James's son."

It didn't register at first, those three words. But slowly his mind began to put the three of them together. Shock took hold of me.

No, it couldn't be true.

"I'm J…James's son," he managed to stutter out.

Matt nodded, worry on his face, "Yes. And I'll tell you the whole story. But first, it looks like you need to sit down."

Seth was shaking his head, all the color drained out of his face. He took a step back as Matt stepped toward him and suddenly he was sprinting. He didn't know exactly where he was going; all he knew was that he just wanted to run away from everything. His life, Matt, SATS, James. He made it about a mile into the field before a hand came upon his shoulder. He slowed down and stopped. His legs began shaking and he felt himself starting to hyperventilate. Matt stroked his back, "Relax Seth. Let the shock run its course."

He looked into Matt's clear blue gaze and nearly collapsed. His body was beginning to feel weak again; he guessed the drink that Molly had given him was starting to wear off. He took a deep breath and let Matt help him sit down in the grass. Matt sat down next to him and they said nothing for a few moments. "I knew your father from an early age. But I knew your mother from the moment she was born. She was a beautiful girl with her gold hair and green emerald eyes. And she always seemed to radiate a kind of light. Almost all the boys who met her fell in love with her, but she loved no one. Sure she had a few friends that were boys, but none that she really liked. She was an excellent student top in her grade in everything except gun fighting, hand fighting and knife fighting. She wasn't that into violence and believed in healing people."

"When she was a hundred and fifty she wanted to see her parents back down in the normal people city. After much arguing I finally let her go with a bodyguard. It was also a mistake on my part because this was the first time she met James. Every night I would make the journey to James to see him in his training. The first time Diane took James as an apprentice I begged for her to let him go. The way she was training him horrified me and I didn't want the poor boy leading such a terrible life. Diane ignored me and kept doing her brutal training on him."

"Anyway, Lizzie, which was her nickname, went to go see her parents. It turned out they had been killed by a fire. She was overcome with grief and her bodyguard begged her to go back to SATS. She said she would once she had a little alone time. Ironically, this day was also the day that James had a little free time. He was wandering around the streets, just trying to get as far away as possible from Diane for once. When he saw the most beautiful girl he had ever seen crying on the street I believe he immediately fell in love with her. Now James was a handsome young lad and when he came next to Lizzie she was stunned to have such a beautiful stranger next to her and Seth I think it's time I showed you a memory that I stole from James."

Throughout this story, Seth had been enthralled at the talk of his parents and now he looked at Matt, "What memory? What are you talking about?"

"When you grow older," Matt said softly, "You learn many things and one of them is stealing memories. It is a trick you master after much extensive training. Anyway, I stole this memory from the young James when he was sleeping. This memory is long and I'll only give a taste of it."

Seth was now getting extremely confused by what he was saying, but before he could ask, Matt put a hand on his forehead. Almost immediately his vision went black. He cried out in surprise and he began seeing an image in his head. It was some sort of dark alley. There were old crumbling stones on the ground and old musty buildings were on the sides of the alley. A bench was sitting next to one of the walls with a girl and a boy sitting in it.

The girl was amazingly beautiful with slightly curled gold hair and his green eyes. She was wearing dark pants and a dark purple cloak hung on her shoulders. She had been crying and was looking at a handsome boy with veiled eyes. Seth looked at the boy in surprise; he looked like him with the same messy black hair and tall figure. The only difference was that this boy had black eyes and a more muscle on his bones. So this was James, he thought, and that girl next to him must be my mother.

"Who are you," said my mother, scooting a little away from James on the bench.

James smiled gently, "My names James, and I'm sorry it's just that I've never really talked to a girl before and I thought it was time that I should. You were just sitting here, crying and I thought something was wrong. Why are you crying?"

My mother eyes suddenly grew fierce, "That's none of your business. I appreciate that you want to help me, but I can take care of myself just fine." She stood up and was about to walk away when James took her hand. She looked at him in surprise.

"I'm sorry," he said again, "Please can I just talk with you a while. I…..need to hear someone's voice. I hate being alone with no one to talk to except……my master. Who isn't exactly the most pleasant person to talk to."

My mother suddenly looked at James with sympathy and sat back down on the bench, "So you've never actually talked to a girl before?"James shook his head, studying her. "My name's Elizabeth, by the way, but my friends call me Lizzie."

James nodded, "So what are you doing here Elizabeth? You look so sad….you don't have to tell me of course, if you don't want to."

Lizzie looked at her hands, "It's okay. I'm here because I wanted to see my parents, but I just found out…..that they….had died a few years ago." Her voice was a little shaky and you could tell she was trying not to cry.

James looked at her with pity, "I'm so sorry. I didn't realize you wanted to be alone. If you want me to leave that's okay."

Before Lizzie could say anything to this, a man came. He had light brown hair and olive skin and looked furious. "Lizzie! What the hell are you doing? You told me you wanted to be alone and look where I find you. With a boy, what is this your……" The man suddenly stopped speaking, looking at James in horror. James looked stunned at the man's horrified gaze and stood up, taking a step back. "Lizzie," said the man, "Come here right now from him. Do you know who you're even talking too?"

Lizzie looked confused by this, but James began to understand. He shook his head, "You're one of them! Hell! If I had known, I wouldn't have even come. My master is going to kill me when she sees this. Unless…..I kill you."

Lizzie stood up so suddenly and walked away slowly. She looked a little scared. The man, meanwhile, had taken out a sword. The steel was thin but the hilt was made of gleaming silver with a blue ruby in the middle. "Stay back from her, boy, or you'll find this sword through that heart of yours."

James took another step back, "I wasn't planning to do anything to her. Don't worry, I don't really like killing. It makes me feel like I'm some sort of monster. Now you'd probably like it that I left right now and don't worry you won't be seeing me again if I can help it." James then turned around and disappeared into the darkness and Seth's vision went black again.

It then began to take shape of another memory. They were in the forest and moonlight shown through shafts in between the trees. There was also a river that made a gentle gurgling sound. Seth immediately recognized the place, it was a few miles away from SATS and he sometimes went hiking by it. James was standing by the river pacing back and forth. It was obvious he was waiting for someone.

He then heard a rustling in the trees and James looked up a broad smile on his face. He looked older, if not handsomer. It must be a few years later, Seth thought. Lizzie then appeared from the trees. Her hair was longer and looked like she just came from training. She was in grey pants and a white t-shirt. She ran toward James and hugged him.

James hugged her back and gently pulled her away from him. His face was so full of love and happiness that Seth could barely recognize him. She looked the same and touched him gently on the cheek. "Oh god, James, it's been so long. I came here every night waiting for you, but you never came. Where have you been? I've been so miserable."

James took a stray strand of golden hair and put it behind her ear and she laid her head on his chest. "Oh Lizzie, you've no idea how long I've been waiting for this moment. She wouldn't let me go, even for a second. It's been so hard, she trains me until I nearly faint……sometimes I do. Today I was lucky, she had somewhere she had to go and she said I could go out for a while. Oh Lizzie, it's so good to see you."

He then looked down at her and he kissed her gently on the lips. Her face flushed at this and she began stroking his hair. "You're so beautiful, but you look exhausted. Maybe you should be getting some rest. You don't have to be here if you don't want to." She looked sad as she said these words and James was looking at her incredulously.

"Are you kidding," He said softly, touching her golden hair, "There is no place in this hell of a world that I would ever be. You're the only reason I haven't killed myself yet. You're the only reason I would do anything. I love you so much Lizzie, that sometimes I can hear my own heart breaking when you aren't in my arms. Every time I sleep I see your face. Every time I think, I think of you. Your love is only a fraction of mine, there is no way I can explain it to you." She looked at him tenderly and soon they were kissing again. When they were done, James looked torn. "Why? Why are the heavens so cruel, but I can't let my master know that I see you. If she ever found out…." He shook his head and touched noses with her.

"James," she said breathlessly, "do you have to leave now? You just came, surely you can stay a few minutes longer." She was looking at him pleadingly and James looked wretched.

"I….I can't. I have to leave now. Trust me Lizzie, I'll come soon. I promise, even if I have to resort to killing her."

Lizzie was shaking her head and she stroked the side of his cheek, "No James, don't kill her. That is not who you are. You are no killer and don't just kill someone just because you can't see me. When you're training is done we can go off together, maybe to Mt. Everest if we have to. Where no one can find us and where we can be with each other forever."

James nodded and took her hands, "You're right, I don't think I could kill her anyways. I'll wait till my trainings over. I'll be patient knowing that you'll be at the end of the road."

Lizzie nodded and Seth's vision went black again.

An image appeared again, it was the same place that James and Lizzie had been before. A black figure stood in the dark. Seth couldn't make out his face, but he knew it was James. Lizzie came out of the trees a few minutes later looking extremely anxious. James stood up and Lizzie ran toward him and they embraced. Seth studied James's face and was stunned to see that he was beginning to look like the James today, like a dark angel. James looked even more worried than Lizzie and looked about to say something, but Lizzie beat him to it.

"What's going to happen James? I talked to Matt and when he heard, he exploded. I don't know what to do," she said looking at him fearfully.

James frowned at this, then said reassuringly, "I've already figured it out. My training is almost over and we can run away because I'll be free!" His eyes gleamed and he looked so happy, but Elizabeth looked crestfallen.

"But James, Diane won't let you. Surely you know this. Once you're done with your training she'll keep you like a pet. It isn't going to work and Matt won't help at all. I've tried; it seems he cares nothing about us."

James said nothing to this and took her in his arms and kissed her neck, her hair, her cheek, her nose and then very gently on the lips. When he was done Lizzie's eyes fluttered and she fell more into his arms. "Don't worry, please Lizzie, I can't stand you like this," he said pleadingly, "I told you everything's going to work out just fine. Diane knows nothing of us." He then kissed her again.

"Oh James, I don't want you to ever leave!" Lizzie said desperately, "Let's leave now. Maybe fly from this world and into the universe."

James laughed at this, "The problem is we're going to have to learn how to not breathe or be in those chunky spacesuits. How will we enjoy our love with those things on?"Lizzie smiled at this and stroked James's hair, "As much as I hate to say this," said James sadly, "I have to go. Diane will be wondering where I am."

Elizabeth shook her head, "No, please, don't go. Stay. Please."

James looked at Lizzie with so much love and pain, "Believe me, I want to stay here forever with you. But for the safety of you I have to go." He looked at her and caressed her face one more time before he left, fading into the darkness.

Seth's vision went black again and then cleared to see that he was sitting in the same field as before. Matt was looking at him carefully as if Seth was about to explode. He said nothing for a few minutes before he said, "James he…..was actually nice. He wasn't a killer, he didn't even _like_ killing. This doesn't make sense, it's impossible. How could he be so….good."

Matt looked at him coolly, before he stood up, "James had a good heart, but even good hearts can break and Diane proved that. She made him into a monster by killing the only person that he lived for. The only person he cared about. Now James is one of the evilest people on earth and so far no one can stop him from destroying everything."

Seth looked out into the now black sky, "In the memory, it said you wouldn't help them. Why? Sure they were on two different sides, but this isn't Romeo and Juliet. You could have helped them and none of this could have happened."

Matt suddenly looked ashamed, "Seth, to tell you the truth. I'm weak, I'm nothing compared to my sister. She had always been the strong one and she told me she knew that James was in love and she told me she would use it to her advantage. She said if I interfered then she would destroy SATS. I knew that she would and I promised I wouldn't. Now look what has happened. In a way this is my entire fault, so I'm going to have to be the one who has to fight the hardest."

Seth looked at Matt in surprise, as it dawned on him, "So you already know that your sister is dead?" Matt nodded and Seth continued, "So you're just going to give yourself up! You're going to fight James, you won't survive. You said yourself that your sister was the strong one and James killed her as if she was a paper doll. Believe me I saw the whole thing.....And James knew this whole time. He knew that you felt guilty and think it's your fault that Lizzie's dead. So he's using it his advantage. You didn't do a fight to the death last time because you didn't want everyone from SATS seeing you die and now you're going to die….Then why did James send me here, when he knew this?!

Matt's face was expressionless, "He sent you here, because he wanted you to see me die and know that you are his and yes, Seth, this is what I have to do and you're going to run. You're going to run as fast and as far as you can while this duel is going on. I will not let James catch you; you're everyone's last hope. Everyone from SATS that survived is fine for now, so you don't have to worry about them."

Seth stood there, shaking his head, "I can't just let you die. I can't. Besides where would I go? He'll catch me and he said that if I tried anything funny he……would give me Ivy's head wrapped up in a pink bow."

Matt sighed, "I should have known he would do this to you. But sometimes you have to make sacrifices."

Seth's eyes grew wide, "NO! I will not let innocent people die because of me. You can't make me anyway."

Matt closed his eyes, "Actually Seth I can."

Seth looked at Matt in disbelief and before he could run away from him, he began to feel dizzy. He shook his head, trying to clear it, but the dizziness kept coming. He watched, helplessly as Matt whistled and a beautiful white mare stepped out of the trees. Her coat gleamed like silver in the dark and large muscles shown on her legs and chest. The beautiful mare trotted toward Matt and Matt whispered something to it. The mare then neighed and reared slashing its hooves like daggers in the dark.

Seth's vision soon began blurring and he collapsed onto the grass. He then felt strong arms lifting him up onto the horse and someone strapping his legs to the sides of the mare to keep from falling off. The last thing he heard before he blacked out was Matt saying, "Goodbye, Seth."

Chapter 18

Seth woke up to a jolt. He opened his eyes and saw white hair in front of his eyes. For a second he wondered where he was, but then it hit him. He groaned and sat up (he luckily didn't have his hands bound) and looked around. The white mare he was riding was trotting at a gentle pace and he saw that they were in some kind of forest. It didn't look like they were in Colorado anymore. He recognized the trees and they were mostly white birches, evergreens, oaks and willows. It looked to be about midday. A shaft of sunlight shown through the trees and it was starting to get hot. He suddenly wondered how long he had been out.

Matt was such a trickster and now he was probably already dead and Ivy also. Sadness filled his heart, but no tears came, it just seemed normal now for people that he knew to die.

He wondered where the white mare was taking him. He looked at the rope that strapped his ankles to the stirrups. He bent down, about to untie them when the mare turned her head and nipped at him. He straightened back up in surprise and the mare continued her pace. Just great, he thought, now he was going to be stuck on this horse for however long she wanted him on. Matt made sure of that. He decided to do what the horse wanted and sat on the saddle. It was lucky he was so used to horses; otherwise the saddle would be killing his butt.

A few hours past and Seth began to feel extremely hungry. When was the last time he had eaten? It must have been when Molly gave him that soup and that felt like a million years ago. The scenery also didn't seem to have changed much, just the same trees and bushes.

Finally, when it was dusk the horse stopped. It turned its head and began pulling on the knots that were tied around his ankles. He waited patiently for her to do this and when she was done he climbed off the horse. He swayed slightly on his feet and felt extremely weak. The lack of food was beginning to take its toll on him.

The mare watched him silently and then without warning went galloping off into the trees. "Wait!!" he cried out desperately. But the mare was already gone in a flash of white.

Now he was officially alone, so Matt had just wanted him to die in the middle of a forest. "I guess it can't be that bad to die," he said to himself. He sighed and sat down against a tree, laying his head back. He was about to close his eyes, when he heard a rustling. He looked up and saw the white mare looking down at him. A clump of a bush was in her mouth filled with blackberries. His mouth began watering as he saw them. The mare set down the blackberries at his feet and he immediately grabbed them and picked one off. The instant he popped the berry into his mouth a load of sweetness filled it. He quickly took another one and another until they were all gone. The berries had partly sedated his hunger, but it was better than starving. He then laid his head back and closed his eyes. But sleep didn't come until the early hours of the morning.

When he awoke there were more blackberries at his feet. He quickly ate them and he saw the mare looking at him, waiting for him to climb back into the saddle. He nodded to the horse and climbed back on, ready for another long ride.

The mare galloped this time, and Seth had to use all of his riding skills to stay on. He was exhausted, but he would stay in the saddle all day if he had to. After a few hours, the forest turned into what he guessed, farming fields. The first sprouts of corn were just beginning to creep up and he saw loads of tobacco leaves in all directions. It was hot and sweat was soon dripping down his forehead. They galloped through these fields for a couple hours before they came to the entrance of a farmhouse. It was a small white building with only one floor. The mare stopped at the entrance to the house and Seth climbed off her broad back. He gently stroked the animal's nose and said softly, "Thank you."

The mare nickered before it galloped at full speed into the fields. Seth watched her go, knowing that he would probably never see her again. When he couldn't see her anymore he turned toward the house. So this was the place that Matt had wanted him to go, a small farm house.

Purple and white flowers dotted the grass around the house along with small neatly trimmed bushes. Someone definitely lives here, he thought.

Seth then went up to the door and knocked three times. A few seconds later the door opened to reveal a woman. She was small, but held herself with authority. Her long curly black hair was in a ponytail and her eyes were a bright blue. She was slim and her long bare arms shown with muscle. She looked at him in complete surprise and then a look of loathing came upon her face. "You look just like him. It's good you don't have his black eyes or I probably wouldn't have let you in. Let me guess, Matt sent you."

Seth instantly took a dislike toward the woman, but nodded anyway, "Yeah and against my will."

The woman studied him for a moment before she gestured toward the doorway, "You might as well come in. You have much to explain, boy."

He hesitated for a moment, but then decided that Matt wouldn't give him to a woman who absolutely detested him. He went into the house and was stunned to see how ordinary it looked. There was a fireplace with two wooden chairs sitting next to it. Pictures of kids stood up on an upper shelf and various plants were scattered about the room. There was also a small kitchen with a table and two children sitting there. They looked at him with curious eyes as he came in. "Callie, Dylan go to your room. I have to talk to a friend for a little while."

The girl, Callie, stood up and asked, "Who is he mommy? I've never seen him before."

The woman looked at her child sternly, "Just a friend Callie, now go to your room and shut the door with your brother."

Callie looked about to say something more, but her brother glared at her and they walked away to their room. Seth watched them go and the woman gestured for him to sit down in one of the chairs in the living room. He sat down obediently and watched as she sat in the one opposite him. "I can't believe Matt wanted my children to be endangered like this. You realize just you being here is putting them at risk."

He looked down at his hands, "I'm sorry I didn't know. But it isn't my fault that Matt sent me here. He sacrificed himself to make sure I was safe and I have to respect that."

The woman looked at him incredulously, "Matt….is….dead! No, that can't be, it's impossible. No one can kill him, he was so……good." The woman's face filled with grief and Seth looked at her in sympathy, it looked like she knew Matt well.

"I'm sorry," he said kindly, "I didn't realize you knew him so well."

The woman stood up and went over to the kitchen, "You must be hungry. I've got a loaf of bread here and some cheese, if you want. Oh and my name's Leyla."

Seth was slightly surprised by her change in behavior, but accepted it, "Yeah, I'm starving actually, thank you."

He watched as he took the bread and sliced it with the cheese and put it onto a platter. She came over and gave it to him. He immediately dug into it, glad for something real to eat. When he was done he looked at Leyla. He saw her eyes were filled with tears; he was suddenly embarrassed by how he had just eaten the food without really checking on her. She noticed him looking at her and asked with surprising calmness, "Can you please tell me your story and how Matt died?"

Seth hesitated, not sure if he should tell her everything, and nodded, "Of course." He then told her about he was a rock star and had gotten caught by The Society. How James had tortured him and about Ivy. How they managed to escape and get to SATS. The years of training and James destroying SATS. He then explained about his capture and how James let him go to find Matt, only to find it was a setup. He told her about how he found out about his dad and how Matt had sent him here, not wanting to see him die and get captured by James again.

Leyla was quiet through the whole story and when he was done stood up from her chair. "You must be exhausted, I'll set up a bed in here and you can sleep for as long as you want."

She was about to go, but Seth stopped her, "Wait," he said, "What about you? Who are you and why did Matt send me to you of all people?"

Leyla looked at him for a moment before sitting back down again; her eyes were far away as she said, "Alright, I guess you deserve to know. I was a close friend to Matt, but like most girls my age; fell in love to another man. Matt accepted this and let me go my own way. We got married and spent a number of years together. Then, a few years ago, I became pregnant. When I gave birth, I gave birth to two twins. Unfortunately, The Society found out about our children and knew they had abilities. It was a week after when they came to our old house. My husband told me to run and said he would hold them back. I said I wouldn't leave him, but he made me go because of the children. I left, and my husband died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head. I was overcome in grief and nearly died that year, but I knew I had to stay alive for the babies. We found this abandoned farmhouse and have been living here ever since.

"Then, just five years ago, Matt came to our house. He was very kind and helped us in many ways. Giving us clothes and food. He then brought up the topic of you. Explaining how he had found James's son, I was furious at the time and told him to kill you. I wanted anything connected to James destroyed and I thought his son would be perfect. Matt said he would not and said you were good and healing well in SATS from the brutal torture that James had put you through. I listened patiently to this and when he was done asked why he was telling me this. He told me….that in a few years James would find out that you were his son. He said that it would be hopeless once he did find out. He then asked me if I could take you in twenty years, so you could be safe. I at first refused, but Matt finally managed to convince me. But I guess he should have thought earlier than twenty years."

"Yeah, he should of, but not everybody can know the future," he said.

Leyla stood up then, "I'll get you some blankets."

"Wait," he said again, "No. I'm going to leave; no one is going to die on my part again. I don't think I could take it if you and your children were killed."

Leyla stared at him, "Seth, you must understand I made a promise to-." It was then the door exploded in a whirl of splintered wood. Seth ducked as the wood went flying everywhere. He looked up and saw a tall figure in the doorway. He looked around for Leyla and saw her lying on the floor, a piece of wood had found its way through her stomach. Blood ran down from the wood in a spreading pool of red. She was trying to get up and she looked at me and mouthed, "Take the children and run." Blood was soon coming out of her mouth and Seth didn't want to leave her just sitting there helpless. But the children were in danger and he had to help them before James could.

He stifled a cough and brushed a few pieces of wood off of him and as silently as he could went toward the kid's bedroom. He heard another crash behind him and a familiar cold voice, "Well, well isn't it Leyla. I was wondering where you went off to. Now tell me, where is he? I can sense him right now, the power that he radiates makes him so easy to find. Tell me where he is and maybe I'll give your children a painless death."

He heard a spluttering cough from Leyla, "I'll…n-never….t-tell….you where he i-is you…son of a bitch!"

He heard a sigh from James and then a piercing scream. Seth didn't want to here anymore and silently opened the kids door. They were both huddled next to each other in a far off corner. They looked at him with fearful eyes. He put a finger to his lips, feeling beyond scared himself. "It's going to be alright," he whispered.

He then heard another terrible scream and the children looked at each other, terrified. "Where's mommy?" said Callie frantically.

Seth said nothing to this question and went over to the window on the other side of the room. This is going to hurt, he thought. He then punched the glass of the window with all his might and it shattered into millions of pieces. He felt a stinging pain on his fist and saw pieces of glass sticking to the inside of the skin with crimson blood dripping from it. He swore quietly and gestured toward the kids, "Come on, let's get out of here."

Dylan stood up and went toward the window and her sister followed her reluctantly.

When they were out the window, he was about to follow them when a terrible voice stopped him, "I don't think you should be doing that." He turned around and saw James's furious face staring at him. A gun was in his hand (not like he needed it) and power rushed from his fingers in a red light. There was a long cut across the side of his face. So Matt had at least has some of a fight with him. "I should have known you were my son," he continued coldly, "It's too bad for you that you look mostly like me. Maybe your punishment wouldn't have to be so bad."

Seth wasn't even thinking when he did the next thing, but he jumped out the window.

And landed right next to his horse, Darkmoon, in a splatter of dust.

Both the children were on top of the large stallion already and Seth barely hesitated in following them. Darkmoon almost immediately began galloping away from the house, but unfortunately didn't get far before he just froze. Seth tried to press his legs against his flanks, but found he couldn't move a muscle either.

He then heard an evil laugh, and James appeared in front of the horse, "You amuse me very much Seth, surely you didn't think you could run away from _me._"

Seth felt a cold fear in his stomach, the kids were now going to die because of him and Leyla was already dead. James then took the gun in his hand and pointed it at Dylan's head. The poor kid looked so scared and Seth looked at James in horror. "Now Seth, climb off that horse and come toward me or they die."

Seth found he could move again and with barely any hesitation climbed off the horse and came next to James. James smiled and shot the gun. Seth turned around in shock and saw that James had shot Darkmoon in the head. The beautiful stallion almost immediately crumpled to the ground. "NO!" Seth cried out. While Darkmoon was falling to the ground the children fell from the horse and were too terrified to run away. Seth was about to go run toward his horse, but James stopped him, holding the gun at the children's heads.

"Ah, Ah, Ah Seth. One little step and you'll find a bullet in each of their heads," said James cruelly.

Seth didn't move and felt a rush of grief fill him. His beloved horse was gone, the horse that had chosen him and had felt silent companionship with. Was there no one left that he cared about? James smiled at him derisively, "Such a beautiful horse too. Too bad such a creature had to die." James then put a hand on his shoulder and Seth was afraid to move even an inch for fear he would shoot the gun at the children's heads.

"What do you want me to do," he said, trying to keep his voice calm.

James gripped his shoulder harder, "You have no idea how glad I am for you to be my son. It's kind of ironic, isn't it? The one boy I have been after turns out to be family. When Matt told me I wasn't even surprised. Unfortunately I couldn't torture out of him where the rest of the SATS kids are, but who cares, they're as good as dead anyways."

Seth found himself shaking, he still couldn't believe how such a man used to dislike killing. "How can you live with yourself?" Seth managed to get out of his mouth, "You kill and kill when you used to hate it. My mother loved you because you were-."

James suddenly pointed the gun at him and shot him in the shoulder. He screamed and crumpled to the ground. His shoulder felt like it was on fire, but at least he was getting used to this kind of pain. He felt the wet blood beginning to drip down his arm and he looked at James. He looked terrible in the bright sun, his whole body glowing with anger. "I suggest you don't even mention your mother, Seth," he said icily.

Seth groaned and wished he could be anywhere, but here.

Suddenly there was a flash of light and Seth felt like he was being sucked like a vacuum through space. Everything was black and he couldn't breathe. He struggled to take in air, but only swirled more into the blackness. Just when he thought he was going to die, it was light again. He breathed the air in relief and wondered what had happened. He looked around and was stunned to see that James was gone, but was even more surprised to see he was a in a different and more familiar landscape. He looked around and was sure he was in the valley where SATS had been. Except the building of SATS weren't there anymore, in fact it was just a pile of rubble. What once was a beautiful school was what looked like a graveyard. Pieces of stone, glass and brick were scattered everywhere. Along with metal objects that used to be used for training.

Seth frowned, so this is what James had done to SATS; turned it into a ruin and to be forgotten over time. How had he gotten here? One moment he was about to be taken by James, the next he was by SATS. A sudden burst of pain in my arm, made him take some time to look at it. He was losing too much blood, was his first thought, the second thought was that he was going to faint soon if he left it any longer.

He took a deep breath and carefully took the bullet out. Blood spurted from the wound and his eyes watered in pain. He began to feel really dizzy, but forced himself not to pass out. He then ripped part of his torn up, bloody shirt and tied the piece as tight as he could around his shoulder. Now that that was taken care of he had to find a place to rest up. He slowly stood up and decided to get as far as possible from the wreckage of SATS. It was then he saw a black figure staring at him through the trees. A hood covered his face and he was wearing rather ragged jeans. Seth quickly took a step back in surprise and tripped over one of the stones from the wreckage. He fell hard on his back, his shoulder exploding in agony. He let out a cry of pain and the man who was watching him, came quickly toward him. Seth tried to crawl away from him, but it was a pretty pathetic attempt. The man easily came next to him and Seth decided to stop trying to get away. If the man was part of The Society, so be it.

He knelt next to him and said, "Relax, Seth, I'm not going to hurt you. I've been waiting for you for some time."

Seth looked at the man in confusion, "What do you mean? Who are you?"

"Who am I," said the man and he pulled down his hood. He had black skin and a light frizz of black hair on his head. His eyes were the color of dark chocolate and he had a determined expression on his face. "My name's Dakota and I was sent here to get you."

Seth's shoulder was now throbbing painfully and he suppressed a moan, "What do you mean you were sent?" he asked, "Who sent you?"

Dakota noticed his look of pain and he looked at his damaged shoulder, "James will pay for what he has done. He has killed so many and yet he doesn't care how many people are suffering. Thousands of kids have been captured and killed because of him. Not to mention tortured beyond healing. How could one man cause so much damage? Now SATS, the only thing hope we had left is destroyed. The worst thing is that Matt is dead," his voice was filled with sadness and pain as he said this.

Seth then noticed there was something familiar about his face. He searched through his memory for any connection to him. It was then it hit him, he looked like Hugo. "You're Hugo's dad, aren't you?" he asked.

Dakota nodded sullenly, "I am. How did you guess?"

"You look a lot like him," he answered.

Dakota smiled, "Here, let me look at that shoulder. It looks pretty bad."

Seth let him take off the bit of torn up shirt from his shoulder. Dakota then let out a gasp, his eyes growing wide, "How are you still alive? Let alone talking. Do you know what kind of bullet was in your shoulder? It's a Silent Bullet, one of the most deadly bullets on the face of the earth. You should have been dead in minutes; we need to get you to one of our healers, now."

Seth looked at the man in disbelief, "You must be wrong. I didn't have a…..Silent Bullet or whatever…you call it inside of me."

Hugo shook his head, "I know the signs. Trust me, I've seen these bullets in some of our dead kids. They usually kill you in minutes," his voice was hurried ad he bent down, "Can you walk?"

Seth nodded, still not believing him. He couldn't have a Silent Bullet in him, could he? But it did sound like James and James probably knew it wouldn't kill him right away. "I think I can," he said.

Seth very slowly stood up, only using his feet. It was then a wave of nausea swept over him. He moaned and then a spasm of coughing took him. He coughed for a few minutes and he began to notice he was coughing up blood. The coughing then stopped for a moment and Dakota didn't even hesitate. He was swept of his feet and into his large sinewy arms. His body went into even more coughing and the blood kept coming out of his mouth. Dakota was running now, but he barely noticed. His whole body was starting to ache and hurt and his shoulder felt like it was being ripped off. He soon began choking on the blood and he struggled to cough it out. If he hadn't been hurting so much he would have been embarrassed of how much blood he was getting on Dakota's clothes.

Everything after that seemed like a haze. He remembered endless running and eventually voices. "What happened?"

"He's going to die."

"Where's the healer?"

"It was a Silent Bullet."

After that he fell into blackness.

James looked at the ground where Seth had been and swore. So he had, unfortunately, figured out how to teleport. Usually that took immense training, so it must have been done by accident. He looked at the children by the dead horse and considered killing them. No, he decided, he wouldn't kill them just yet.

He went over to the children and saw that they were shaking with fear. He felt a sudden pleasure in this and waved a hand over them. They instantly dropped off into a deep sleep. He went over to the boy first and touched his neck. He felt a slight rush of power from him. He sighed in disappointment, his ability was flying. How many people in the world could have that common power? It got so annoying.

He went over to the girl next and touched her neck. He immediately felt a blast of power. A smile lit up his face, much better, he thought, and just what he needed.

She was a tracker.

He then pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a few numbers. It rang two rings before he finally picked up. "Hello, this is Joshua."

"Hello Josh," he said coolly.

He heard Josh gasp in surprise, "J-James, I didn't realize it was you, sir. What is it, is there anything you need. If there is anything I can do I'll do it right away and-."

"Shut up Josh, I don't have time for your chattering," James said, getting annoyed, "Get Eric on the phone now or you'll find I can kill you from two thousand miles away."

"Y-yes sir," he said shakily.

James waited impatiently as Josh clattered toward Eric. He made a note to teach that guy a lesson when he got back. He then heard Eric's familiar voice, "Yes, my lord."

James smiled; Eric would never disobey him again. He still remembered taking his knife and carving the scars that were now on his face. "Hello Eric," he said calmly, "Are the chains ready?"

"Yes, they are, my lord, just as I promised."

James nodded, satisfied, "Unfortunately, we can't use them yet. I have experienced a difficulty in capturing him, but nothing that I can't handle. What I need you to do is make sure that the army is ready when I get back. Can you do this?"

"Of course, my lord, they should be ready. How long until I expect you?" he said with complete obedience.

"Well," James said looking at the children, "I should think I'll be back in a couple of days, maybe less if everything goes perfectly."

"I should have them ready by then."

"Good," said James before he hung up.

Now that that was taken care of, he went toward his car, the Lamborghini LP640. He opened the door of the sleek car and hopped in. He was proud of this car and was, not to mention, one of the fastest cars in the world. He drove the quarter of a mile to the unconscious kids and climbed out again. He then knelt by the girl and woke her up with a flick of his hand. The little girl immediately woke up. She looked confused, then scared, "Where's mommy," she said in a small voice.

James smiled at her cruelly, "I'm sorry to say that your mommy's in hell."

The girl looked terrified when he said this and James laughed, "It's alright, hells a terrible place. Your mommy will probably be in the worst torture forever."

The girl suddenly began crying at this and James rolled his eyes, "Please don't cry, I have other things to do beside you mourning your mother," he said heartlessly.

The girl only cried harder and James twitched his hand and she fell silent, "That's much better. Now, I know that you're a tracker, it's your ability, right." The girl only stared at him, and James continued, "I need you to find that boy that was trying and failing to rescue you. You know, the very tall one, black hair, bloody clothes. The one I just shot a few minutes ago. You know who I'm talking about?"

The girl slowly nodded, "Good, now look in that little head of yours and find him."

The girl looked at him blankly and James thought she hadn't understood him, when she closed her eyes. A few minutes past and slowly the child's arm lifted and pointed to the right. James smiled, "He went east," he asked the girl, but he saw she had passed out. But he didn't care, because now he knew exactly where he was.

Chapter 19

He woke up in a tent. Gray blankets covered him and a mat of blankets were piled beneath his head to make a pillow. He sat up and found that his shoulder was feeling a lot better. He looked at it and gasped in surprise, the wound was completely gone. No scar or nothing. He didn't have a shirt on, but still had the grimy, torn up pants. His stomach grumbled and he realized he was ravenous. He stood up when he heard a gentle voice, "I don't suggest you do that. You aren't exactly a hundred percent yet. I would think in two days you'll be there, but for now just stay in here."

Seth turned around and saw a bony woman watching him. She had long wispy brown hair and large blue eyes. Her figure suggested she was half starved and a forced smile was on her face. "Sit down, boy. It's alright to rest for a little while."

Seth looked at her wonderingly, "Where am I and what is your name?"

The woman came over to him and then yelled, "ANDRIA!"

He flinched at this sudden outburst and a girl came in. She looked a little younger than him and had dark red hair. She looked nearly as half starved as the woman and tired. Large black circles were under her eyes and she looked about to collapse. "Yes Vera," she said obediently.

The woman, Vera, looked at her sternly, "Our patient is hungry. Try to find some soup. There should be some at the cooks, say it is an emergency."

Andria looked at her feet, "The soup was given to the kids yesterday. We don't have any food left except a few berries we happened to find. Some people are out hunting, but they won't be back for hours yet."

Vera sighed, "Then get some berries, girl. All of them, since there aren't that much to begin with."

Andria nodded, "Yes Vera."

She left without another word and Vera studied him, "You look terrible, but not as bad as when you first came in. You should have seen yourself, it's lucky I know so much about healing or you would be dead by now."

Seth nodded, "Thank you. But you still haven't told me where I am."

Vera sighed, "So pushy, I don't remember your mother being so rude. It must be from your father then, I wouldn't be surprised, he was always on the bad side of things. And now look what's happened. He caused your mother's death and killed thousands of people. You'll be dead in a few minutes if people heard you were even remotely close to being like him."

He looked at Vera, and was beginning not to like her at all. But he forced himself not to get angry. That could get messy. "You could call us refugees," she continued, "we're hiding from The Society. Most of us have escaped from there; others are from SATS and other parts of the globe. Right now we aren't exactly in the most comfortable position. Food is running out fast ever since the SATS people arrived. And now you came and my orders are to feed you properly and that apparently means giving you all the food we have left."

Seth was getting really annoyed at this time and snapped at her, "You know, you don't have to give me the food if you don't want me too. I didn't exactly ask for it. If you so need it, then why even bother to give it to me. You look starved yourself, so why don't you just eat it. I'm sick and tired of just being told that everything is my fault when I'm doing nothing. Everybody is actually making me believe it too. Look, I didn't even know that I was James's son until just a couple of days ago. So you can just let m starve anyway, I really don't care because I don't really care for my life that much. Every moment I'm alive I seem to cause more deaths of innocent people and it's is only going to continue worse in the future. So go ahead, if you need the food, take it."

Vera looked at him in surprise and then anger, she was about to say something when a cool voice stopped her. "That was quite a speech there, Seth. But I guess you're right, no one should be blaming you."

Seth turned around to see who had spoken and was stunned to see a tall woman. She was slim with long black hair and yellow eyes like a cat. "Hello Seth," she said in her silky voice, "My name's Levaine and I'm what you would call the leader of this camp. I'm glad to see that you're healing well. You look much better than when I first saw you come here. It is amazing that you were able to last that long, but that is to be expected."

Seth was awestruck by this woman; she seemed to radiate an aura of magic and the way she spoke made you just want to listen. "Thank you for saving my life," he said bowing his head, "But I just want to know….how many are left from SATS?"

Levaine noticed his reluctance to say this and a look of pity was in her eyes, "There are forty-seven people that survived and came here. Most of them are kids because most of the adults had died in the fighting. I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but that's just the way things are. Unfortunately we are running out of food fast and you're expected to help the camp find or hunt food when you are fully well."

It was then the Adriane came in with a plate of berries. They managed to fill the tiny plate and Seth guessed there were about twenty berries in all. His stomach groaned again and he felt an urge to tear the plate from her hand and gobble it all down. Adriane gave the plate to Vera and with a gesture from her she left the tent. Vera noticed him looking at the food and she frowned, "You don't get any food, until Levaine is finished talking with you."

Seth said nothing and Levaine rolled her eyes, "I'll be quick then because you look the most starved out of any of us. The Society must be a harsh place. Anyway, some of your friends from SATS are here and I haven't allowed them see you until you were awake. Would you like me to send them in?"

Seth, his mouth watering, perked up at the mention of his friends, "Yeah, I would like that."

Levaine nodded, "Well then, I shall see you tonight and we can talk a little more about what happened to you." She left, not even waiting for a response. Vera then set the plate down next to him and he took a handful of the berries and stuffed them in his mouth. They tasted amazing. So sweet and tart. It was unfortunate when that they all disappeared in his mouth a few seconds later.

A couple minutes later the tent flap opened to reveal Nile, Ryan and Dusty. All of them had lost a lot of weight and sad looks were on all their faces. They all smiled at him and Dusty immediately slammed him into a bear hug. This was surprising, especially from someone like Dusty. "Thank God," she said, her voice muffled from the hug, "You're alright." She then pulled away from him and Seth couldn't help but give her a sad smile.

"I'm not what you would call alright, but I'm okay."

Nile laughed at this, "I think we kind of figured that out, especially when you came into camp two days ago with a Silent Bullet in your shoulder. Not to mention been with The Society for that past few weeks. We think we got it bad, but you…..let's just say it sucks to be you."

Nile has really changed, he thought, not the careless boy that he used to be. Seth looked at Ryan, he hadn't said anything yet, and saw he was glaring at him. Dusty had turned around and was looking angrily at her brother, "Well are you going to say hi to your friend or not."

It was obvious they had been arguing about this before they came in the tent. He looked at Nile and saw he looked uncomfortable. Ryan was still glaring at him and said, "Yeah, I'm going to say hi to a person who I _thought _was my friend. Instead, I find out that he's the son of a mass murderer. Oh and not to just any mass murderer, the worst one in the whole entire world. The one who thinks its fun to torture and kill innocent children. The one who caused all this mess and making us live in hiding, half starved and thirsting for revenge!"

Seth felt his face pale, "I didn't know," he murmured, "that he was my father. I swear-."

"Just shut up, Seth," said Ryan heatedly, "I don't want to hear your stupid excuses. It's your fault anyway that James came to SATS in the first place. If it wasn't for you many people would still be alive right now. Not to mention you lied to all of us, no wonder you were such good at the gun fighting, hand fighting and fencing. It's in your killer blood!" Seth looked away from Ryan as the angry boy left the tent.

There was complete silence for a few minutes, until Seth broke it, "He's right, in a way. It was my fault that James came to SATS. But I swear I didn't know he was my father until just a few days ago. It's fine if you don't want to be friends with me anymore because I'm the son of….James."

Seth was looking at his hands and his friends looked at him with sympathy, "No one blames you Seth," said Dusty quietly, "It's just been so hard for my brother these past few weeks. We've never been to The Society, you see, and I think he never really understood how horrible it was until SATS was destroyed. He's been looking for someone to blame for a long time. And since you popped up, well….you get the point."

He nodded and he saw someone stand up from the corner of his eye.

It was Vera.

"Actually, I believe your brother totally, Dusty," she said, her blue like cold steel, "I know for a fact that Seth is lying that he didn't know about his father. He was also probably a spy for him and that is why your little school is now gone. You might not believe me, but when James comes in the next few days. You'll be thinking, why didn't we kill that boy when we had the chance?" She left the tent after those words and Seth felt such a rush of anger toward her. He had only once before had so much anger and it was when James had killed Annie. He stood up and saw Nile and Dusty staring at him in horror. Seth, at first confused, looked at himself. He gasped in surprise. He was glowing a bright reddish-white.

Seth took a step back, his eyes wide. No, no, no, no, no this couldn't be happening. He looked around wildly for help, but his friends were shocked in place. Suddenly, Seth's whole body started shaking in preparation for letting out the power that was building up inside of him. Barely even thinking, Seth reacted as fast as he could.

He ran.

He zipped out of the tent and sprinted toward the woods. The air flying past his ears so fast he could barely hear it. His body began to glow brighter and Seth was close to hyperventilating. He sprinted as fast and as far as he could before the power exploded from his hands in a whirl of light. Instantly, four trees in front of him caught on fire in a whirl of red and orange flame. The flame didn't last long on the trees though; in fact it lasted about two seconds before the trees just collapsed into black ash. It was so quick, that Seth thought he might have just imagined it. More power then sprang from his fingers and more trees and bushes started on fire before crumbling into black ash.

He didn't know how to stop it and the light kept from springing from his fingers, killing the forest around him. Seth soon began weakening and he collapsed to the floor, nearly sobbing in horror of what he was doing. After what seemed like an hour, it finally stopped. He felt so tired and a cold feeling was in the depth of his stomach. He looked around him and gasped in shock.

Every tree, bush, strand of grass and animal had all turned to black ash around him and extended for at least a mile in every direction. The air around him was thickened with it and every time he breathed he had to start coughing and his eyes would water. The only thing that was alive was the grass he was laying on.

Seth coughed again and stood up. If any of the refugees saw this, they would most definitely kill him. Maybe I deserve it, said a small voice in the back of his head, after all he had destroyed at least a fourth of the whole forest. He was dangerous and it would probably be best if he died.

It was then he heard gentle footsteps on the ash. Seth turned around quickly and saw Levaine looking at him calmly, like Matt always did. A sharp pain of sadness stabbed at his heart as he remembered this. "Seth, I'm not going to hurt you," she said walking slowly toward him, "I just want you to come with me so we can talk about this." She talked to me like I was a scared animal that was just about run off. In a way, that's exactly what he felt.

"Get away from me," he said coldly, "I might hurt you. Look what I DID!"

Levaine sighed, "You are just maturing into your power. Everyone loses control sometimes when they're young, but you learn to control it. You are very young and people will understand."

"How can you say that?" he asked her incredulously, "No one I know has the power to kill. They have nothing to worry about when they lose control of their power. I do. When I lose control I kill everything around me. And even if they did understand, I'm the son of _James_ for God's sake. Please, either kill me now or let me run away."

Levaine moved closer and Seth took a step back, "Your friends are missing you, Seth. At least stay for a few days, until you get better. Remember you nearly died two days ago and are still recovering."

Seth began to realize she was right, now that the adrenaline was beginning to disappear. Exhaustion was beginning to settle in him. He looked at the ground defeated, "You're right. But I want to make a deal."

Levaine nodded, "Go on."

He continued, saying, "I stay for a week and you can do anything you want with me, but after the weeks up I'm leaving. I don't know where I'll go, but anywhere where I can't put more people in danger."

She smiled at this, "Agreed."

His body slumped in relief and tiredness. He barely noticed when he leaned on Levaine and she led him back to the camp.

Seth woke up to the smell of roasted meat. He sat up and saw he was in a different tent than before. This one was smaller and had no weird healing thing in it. A woman with dirty blonde hair was carrying a platter of the delicious meat he had smelled. His mouth watered as the woman brought the meat toward him. He looked more closely at her face and saw with surprise that it was Ivy's mother. She looked depressed with dark circles under her eyes. She smiled sorrowfully and set the meat down next to him. "I figured you'd be hungry when you woke up, so I decided to cook up some meat. How are you doing by the way Seth? I have yet to hear your story."

He looked at the meat longingly, but answered Carla's question, "I'm fine, but how are you? You don't look too good. Is there something wrong?"

Carla avoided his eyes, "You should eat, the meats going to go cold."

Seth decided not to argue and bit into the tender meat. It tasted just as good as it smelled. Carla watched him while he ate, an impatient look in her eyes. When he was done with the food, she said quickly, "D-did you see Ivy, while you were at The Society?" she looked about ready to burst into tears as she said this.

So this was what she wanted to tell me, to see if her daughter was still alive. Should he tell her the truth, that Ivy was probably dead. Her head chopped off and being sent to him with a pink bow wrapped around it or should he lie?

He decided to lie, "She is still alive the last time I saw her. James was preoccupied with me so he didn't really pick on the SATS kids that much. I'm sorry, I miss her too and….I wish I can save her from that place." It took all of Seth's will not to act as if she was dead. Was this all that he felt now; grief and anger. Seth thought of the days when he was a rock star, so spoiled, so carefree. Even at SATS he had felt hope that everything was going to be alright. Now it seemed nothing was ever going to be.

Carla nodded slowly, and looked slightly relieved, "Thank you, Seth, I just didn't want to lose another one of the family. You see, Tyler died at SATS. He was shot in the heart and his last words were for his daughter and…..I wanted to tell them to her."

Without thinking, Seth slammed his fist on the empty plate he was holding. Carla jumped and the plate shattered into a million tiny pieces. Blood flowed down his fist, but he barely felt the pain, "I'm going to kill him! I can't stand it. So many deaths and yet that mad man is still alive, killing and destroying lives wherever he goes. What the hell does he want! Just to kill for the fun of it? I think there's more to this than any of you are saying. While I was at The Society I heard James and Diane talking about if I'm the one. The one for what? I need some answers and I need them NOW!!" He knew he had probably gone too far, but he didn't care. He was just so frustrated at being told nothing and he was sick and tired of being all goody-goody about it. There were just too many deaths, too many.

Carla didn't seem surprised at all by his sudden outburst and actually stood up quite calmly, which made Seth even angrier. "I'll go get something for that hand. And try to calm down while I'm gone," she said coolly, before she left.

Seth felt like screaming in irritation, but forced himself to calm down. It would be bad if his ability went out of control again. He looked at his messed, split hand and began taking off some of the tiny pieces of plate that had stuck into it.

The tent flap opened a few minutes later to reveal Carla and Levaine. Carla was carrying a stack of white bandages and a wet cloth. She set down the bandages next to him and began dabbing at his fist with the wet cloth. She was gentle, but it still stung a little. Levaine was staring at him as she did this and said, "Sometimes you need to cool your anger, Seth. I know you've had a rough few months, but people might think of killing you if they find you acting like this. So I've decided that since you're going to be staying with us this week, you will hunt with your friends. We need meat and I believe you would be a great hunter. In fact we're going to hold a contest this afternoon to see who can bring the most meat. It will be fun, and it looks like you could use a little enjoyment."

Seth nodded slightly, looking at Carla as she wrapped his wounded hand in the fresh bandages. "I've never really hunted before, but I guess I could learn," he said, "What will we be hunting with, anyway?"

"Rifles," she said, studying his expression.

"Okay, I'll be there, although I'll probably get last."

Levaine shrugged, "Does it matter? We need food badly and this will get people motivated." He nodded again and Levaine smiled at him, "You're so much like your mother, no matter what anybody says. Let's just hope that the genes you get from your father are just your defiance and anger."

"Let's hope," he said sullenly.

Carla then tugged the bandage in a comfortable position around his hand. "I have to leave now," said Levaine, "See you at the contest."

When she had left, Carla threw him some clothes. "You should wash up and look clean for this thing. You look pretty filthy and terrible."

He nodded and asked, "Where's the shower or bath or whatever?"

Carla pointed to her right, "Just go past the Healer's tent and take a left. They're right there."

"Thanks," he said with meaning, "And not just for showing me where it is, but also for taking care of me. I owe you and I promise……I promise that I'll try to get Ivy back."

She looked at him sadly, and shook her head, "No, you won't get Ivy back. If she manages to escape, then great. But I know in my heart that I probably won't see her again. Now go clean up and go straight to the….contest."

He looked at her worriedly, but did as he was told and took the clothes and went out the tent. It was a cloudy day, and dark storm clouds were in the distance. Not exactly the best day for a hunting contest, but at least he could do a little action then just sitting in a tent all day. He was also a little a surprised that no one was outside. A few kids were playing around, but besides that there was no one.

When Seth came to the supposed baths, (it was actually a clean pond) he was getting more confused. No one was around at all; even the kids had gone into the tents by the order of their mothers. It wasn't even bad outside yet. Sure it wasn't sunny, but it was a comfortable temperature and not a raindrop to be seen. Maybe everyone was just getting ready for the contest, he thought as he took off his clothes and stepped into the freezing pond.

He cleaned himself in exactly two minutes because the water was so freezing cold. After putting on the fresh clothes, he went to the center of camp and sat on a log that was sitting there. Twenty minutes later, Seth knew there was definitely something wrong. He stood up and was about to go toward Carla's tent when he heard Levaine's voice, "Where are you going, Seth?"

He turned around quickly in relief, which was instantly replaced by a cold fear. For right behind her was James. He looked the same as ever. Maybe his black hair was longer, but the same glittering black eyes were there. The same aura of evilness around him. He was holding a little girls hand that he remembered to be Leyla's daughter, Callie. Her small face looked so frightened and Seth felt a burst of fury wash over him like a wave.

"Thank you, Levaine," said James calmly, "I will honor our deal and won't hurt your _refugees."_ The way he said it made it seem like he was mocking her.

She was looking at the ground, a look of fear upon her face. So she had betrayed him, saying she was having a stupid contest and instead had made some sort of deal with James. "I'm sorry, Seth," she said her voice shaking slightly, "I couldn't let everyone die because of one person."

James rolled his eyes, "Oh come now, it isn't that bad. Seth is going where he belongs, with _me. _Now I would appreciate it if you would leave now, I would like to talk with-."

It was then a harsh cry broke from the woods. Nile and Dusty had come, from what looked like hunting. Levaine must have sent them out there so they wouldn't see him get captured by James. It was Dusty who had said the cry and both of them came sprinting toward him. But James didn't let them get far before he held up a hand. They immediately stopped in mid-stride. "Well, well, well who do we have here. Some friend's maybe?" said James amused, "Maybe you should come a little closer so I can see your faces better." He then did another gesture and both of them were forced to walk toward him.

Seth couldn't take it anymore and he felt his hands get hot. He looked at them and saw they were glowing. Maybe he could kill James right now with this power. Right now he could end this. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, forcing the glowing magic to stay in his fingers. He then opened his eyes and pointed his hand toward James. The power slid from his fingers in a glowing arc toward him. At first it didn't seem like James had noticed it. He soon found out he didn't really need to look to know it was coming. In fact he just raised his other hand and the killer magic centered on his palm, staying there. The rest of the magic, however, went toward the girl. He watched in horror and shock as the magic hit her and made her burst into flame. She didn't even have time to scream before she turned into dark ash.

Seth collapsed to the ground in terror of what he had done. He had just killed an innocent girl. A poor girl who had done nothing, but be held in James's grip. James stopped Nile and Dusty from coming toward him and looked at Seth. "I'm surprised you had the nerve to do that, Seth," he said cruelly, "I'm glad there's still hope for you yet. Now let's look at your friends here."

He was afraid to look at them, afraid at what they might think of him now that he had done such an offal deed. He managed to look up and saw they weren't even looking at him. They were looking at James with frightened gazes. It was obvious neither of them had seen him face to face and the shock of it was taking hold of them. "So these are your friends, Seth. They are so pitiful; we must talk about your choice of these things when we get back to The Society," said James coldly, "I mean come on, this tiny boy right here looks about to die by just how small he is and this ugly girl. How much worse can you get?"

Seth said nothing, still overcome by what he had done. "Let Seth go," he heard Dusty say faintly, "What has he done? Sure he's your son, but he wants no part in this. He doesn't want his ability he-." He saw Dusty beginning to choke from what James was doing to her, and he was laughing in enjoyment.

"James, remember our deal. You agreed to just take the boy and go," said Levaine. Seth looked at her in surprise; she had been so quiet he had barely noticed her.

James sighed in disappointment, "Of course." He then did a gesture with his hand and they both went flying backward and into the trees.

"NO!" Seth cried hoarsely.

James smiled at his look of pain and came next to him. "Poor, poor Seth. There's nothing he can do." He then forced him up with an invisible force and he was forced to look straight into his eyes. "I'm very disappointed in you. You have no idea how much irritation you have caused me. But now I've learned what I must do with you. Oh and yes, of course punishment. What was it that I had promised? Oh yeah, Ivy's head. Well, we'll deal with that tomorrow, for now we have much to do."

Seth spat in his face, anger boiling in him. James didn't seem surprised and wiped it away with a flick of his slim fingers. "It's too bad you couldn't save that for a few hours because now I have to start your punishment now, which is very inconvenient at this time."

He then wacked him to the ground with stunning force and took a knife out of his pocket. And it wasn't just any knife; it was the knife that caused the most agony. Seth shook as he remembered the terrible pain that that knife had caused. James saw his look of fear and smiled, "I'll be meaner this time, in fact I'll be so light with it I won't let you black out when I use it."

He held him there as he tore the sleeve of Seth's shirt off. He then placed the thin cold knife against his shoulder and slashed it all the way down to his wrist. That part hurt, but he knew what was coming next would hurt a ton more. It hit him a few minutes later, except it was a ton worse than before. He knew because he had changed, his ability had grown more powerful. And the more powerful your ability the worse it would hurt and this felt like he was being soaked in hot lava.

He let out a terrible scream as his ability began to twist inside of him. He struggled to keep the screams in, but it was almost impossible. He let out scream after scream of agony and he barely noticed James pick him and put him in a car. He only noticed the pain.

That was all he felt pain, pain, pain and more pain.

Chapter 20

The pain lasted two days. Two days he was in extreme agony, sometimes begging for death. Sometimes too tired to even scream. Those two days seemed to be the longest days in his life. When James had finally shown him mercy and stopped the pain, he had immediately fainted.

He had woken up in a white bed. His whole body ached with pain and he had a massive headache. It hurt like hell and he soon found himself crying like a little boy. Tears kept flowing down his face and he had lost all self control. James had already taken that away from him. After many minutes the tears stopped and he tried to fall asleep. It didn't work and he was forced to just lie there.

The door opened a few hours later, to reveal James. He smiled at him coolly and took a wooden chair beside the door and sat down next to him. "You look terrible, Seth," he commented.

He looked at James weakly. He could barely move his head an inch before the pain would come. James then began stroking Seth's black hair over and over again. He said nothing for a while and he saw he was thinking. "My son…" he murmured, "How did I not know? She had been hiding it from me the whole time. Why did she do that?" Seth realized he was talking more to himself than to him.

James stood up abruptly and did a gesture with his hands and Seth was immediately forced to sit up. He couldn't help but let out a cry of agony, the pain was resurfacing again. James ignored this and said unfeelingly, "I want you to listen to me for once, Seth. Or Ivy's head will be hanging as a decoration. You will do as I say, when I say. No questions asked….nothing. Do you understand me?"

Seth looked down, and nodded, "Y-yes. B-but what are y-you going t-to do w-with me?"

James raised an eyebrow, "Frankly I'm surprised you can even say a word let alone a whole sentence. But since you can, I might as well start now." He watched as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of cuffs linked with silver chains. "Do you know what these are, Seth?" he said.

Seth looked at the cuffs and nodded, "Y-yeah, there ch-chains that you link around someone w-wrist usually for i-imprisonment."

James glared at him and snapped his fingers. Immediately his whole body felt like it was on fire. He screamed and rolled on the bed. A few minutes later James stopped the torture magic. "This is no time to be funny," he said harshly. Seth whimpered like a puppy, wishing he could disappear from this world and go into heaven or hell. Surely hell was better than this? "These chains don't really have a name," continued James, "but let's just say they'll keep you here. You have to be either in this building or I have to be at least a mile away from you, or you simply die. You will wear them every time I'm busy, gone or on some kind of trip with me. In fact I want you to wear them right now, just to see how they work."

He looked at James, barely finding the strength to keep his eyes open, "Th-this w-wil just make….i-it easier t-to…kill my-myself."

James laughed at this, "These chains aren't for you escaping. It's to make sure no one is foolish enough to rescue you. You most definitely won't be able to escape. For you see you'll hardly leave my side, these chains are just a safety precaution. Too many times you have escaped from me. That won't happen again."

Seth felt despair fill his heart as James took the cuffs and began securing them onto his wrists. He felt a slight pain and saw with horror that they had small sharp metal spikes on the inside of each cuff. Those things would definitely ruin his wrists if they were kept in too long. "They seem to fit well," said James. It was then an overwhelming pain came in his stomach. He gasped and moved to retch over the side of the bed. Nothing really came up except a weird yellowish liquid. The violent pain in his stomach was still there. James studied him calmly, "And they are obviously working. Don't worry your body will eventually get used to them. It should in a few years."

He shivered and lay back down on the bed, everything officially hurting. "I'll keep the chains on tonight and maybe if you're good I'll take them off tomorrow," said James, standing up, "For now, rest up. You're going to wish for this day in the next few years. So enjoy it while you can." He then left silently, barely a sound heard.

He didn't sleep that night and the next morning when James came in he felt beyond exhausted. "Well, you didn't do much last night, though I'm disappointed you didn't sleep," said James, "Well that can't be helped and you most definitely will sleep after today. Get up."

Seth avoided looking at James in the eyes, and tried to get up. He was apparently too slow for James, who lifted him with his ability and slammed him against the wall.

It hurt.

He let out a cry and James made him stand. "Come closer to me," he ordered. Seth struggled to do as he was told, but in the end it was mostly James who pulled him there. He took hold of his chained wrists and began unlocking them. He gasped when James ripped the cuffs off. The little metal spikes had decorated little tiny holes all around his wrists. Blood was running freely from almost all of them. He didn't want to know what they would look like a few weeks from now. James smiled at his wrists and then released him. He collapsed to the ground in a heap, his legs too weak to hold him. James, looking annoyed, bent down and grabbed him by his hair, dragging him out the door. He screamed and it felt like his skull was on fire.

A few minutes later, James released him. He cowered there on the floor, every part of him screaming in pain. He then heard another voice, "What do you want, my lord."

"Heal him; I don't have the patience now to wait while nature does its work. Heal him right now and your reward will be great," said James, his voice icy cold.

He heard the person sigh, "Of course I shall."

He then felt a cold touch on his face. "What did you do to him, my lord? He looks terrible, what kind of tool does this to a person?"

Seth moaned as he felt a warm sensation envelope his body. It felt so good and his body began to relax. "That information I would like to keep secret," said James dangerously.

The person didn't say anything about it again when he heard that. Soon all the pain was ebbing away and he was filled with warmth. He was sad when it was over, but at least he wasn't in pain anymore. That alone was a huge relief. "It is done" said the person.

"Good, now what would you like you reward to be?" said James.

He sat up slowly, testing his muscles; he didn't feel any ache or pain. He looked at the person who had healed him. It was a very bony man with a bald head. He looked excited at the mention of a reward. He was rubbing his hands together, "Well, let me see, There are so many things, especially you James can give me. But I think I want some of your power. Just a small drain, it will hardly be anything to you. But for me to have even a small fraction of the great James's power would satisfy me very much."

James suddenly looked angry, "You want a little tiny fraction of _my_ power. Are you sure a man such as you would be able to survive such a gift? Even a tiny fraction of my power can destroy you as if you were no more than a flower."

The man kept on nodding, "Oh yes, I would like it so very much."

Seth was expecting James to kill the little man, but to his surprise James's hand started glowing and white light exploded from his fingers. "Treat your reward well," said James softly, the light from his hands wreathing part of his face in shadow.

The man stuck his hand out greedily to the light and both their hands connected. The man who was absorbing the power began shaking as it ran through him. James watched with an amused glance as the man fell to the ground coughing up blood and vomiting. The man's whole body continued shaking and he dragged himself across the floor to James as if begging him to stop it. James only smiled and watched as the man slowly began dwindling. His eyes began to sink into his skull and his skin began to look like thin frail paper. The man died a few seconds later, a disgusting mangled up corpse.

Seth looked at this scene in repulsion. It was so sick. James laid his hand on the body and it disappeared into thin air. "I told him his body wouldn't be able to handle my ability, but he was too greedy," said James amused, "Such a pathetic man. But he had his uses. Now Seth, I would like you to explain to me why his body couldn't hold my power. A detailed description please."

Seth looked at James in surprise, "Is this a test?"

James looked at his fingernails and sighed, "Just answer the question."

Seth thought for a moment before he answered, "The man's body wasn't suited for that powerful of a power. It is why we go through changes so our bodies can adapt to our abilities. His body hadn't changed for that strong of a power so his body had nothing else to do, but let it get fried by the ability he absorbed."

James nodded, "Very good, even without your copycat power you are smart. Now get up, we're going to go for a little walk."

Seth stood up and followed James. He led him through many hallways and down many stairs before they came to a door. It was made of solid iron and looked to be about ten feet in height. James looked at him thoughtfully before he pushed open the door. Seth took one step into the room and stopped, too horrified to do anything else. People, mostly young kids, were chained to the walls of the prison. They all looked half starved and it was obvious they were fed, at the most, once every two days. All of them were filthy and their clothes were reduced to tatters.

"What did you do?" he said in shock.

James smiled and gestured toward them, "Welcome Seth, to my new project. Every one of these kids right here will serve me one way or another. They will become my private army that I can use whenever I want."

"B-but why?" he managed to stutter out, "What the hell do _you_ need an army for. You're the most powerful person on the face of the earth. You could become President if you wanted, hell, you could be ruler of the whole world."

James looked at him thoughtfully, "Your confidence in me is amazing. But, unfortunately there are still those who oppose me. And as much as you find it weird, Seth, I'm still young. Matt was of normal age so you can imagine how old an old person would be. There are people with abilities out there that have been living in peace for many, many years. They are beginning to wake up now that there noticing me starting to take over. I am not about to explain to you all the warriors they have, but let's just say there's a ton. Now that I have an army I stand a chance against them." He then twirled his fingers and moans echoed around the room.

Kids woke up, bleary eyed and he heard chains rattle across the floor. Seth was disgusted by the sight; they were like animals the way they were being herded. Some of the kids Seth even recognized from SATS. A harsh cry then broke from his lips; there was Ivy, her dirty blonde hair almost black from filth. Her wrists were also badly bloodied from the chains secured around them. "Stop," he cried, "Please stop. You can't do this, it's….it's terrible. How can you be so cruel? They're just kids and they have a whole life ahead of them. They shouldn't spend it all like this!"

James sighed and made a gesture with his hands. Instantly Seth collapsed to the floor in agony. His whole body felt like it was on fire. He screamed and convulsed on the ground. James watched him calmly and then stopped the flow of magic. Seth sucked in air gratefully and shivered. "When will you ever learn?" said James coming next to him, "You should be lucky I'm not chaining you up like that. Maybe I should the way you're acting. Do you know how I feed them? I toss a few pieces of meat or bread and they fight over it like dogs. It is very amusing to watch."

Seth coughed, "Chain me up," he begged, "It would be a hell of a lot better than being with you!"

James laughed and knelt next to him, "Is that so?" he then wacked Seth against the wall with an invisible force and held him there. "It must be hard for you to see many people that you have come to know like this. But get used to it, boy, this is going to be your whole life." He then released him and he crumpled to the floor. The kids in chains were looking at James hungrily.

One, a little girl, began crying, "I'm so hungry. Can you just give me a little bite? I'll do anything if you do." Suddenly there was a rush of voices begging for food.

James ignored them and came next to Seth. "Get up. We're leaving, this visit was very disappointing."

Seth struggled to get up. He was badly bruised on his back and legs, but he knew it would be a whole lot worse if he didn't do as he was told. He finally managed to get on his feet. But James wasn't next to him anymore. He was by one of the kids….Ivy. Seth watched as he unhooked the chains from her wrists and pulled her toward him. Her head was bowed and he saw she was shaking. "Ivy," said Seth carefully.

She looked up and his heart beat painfully at the sight of her. Her face was badly bruised and dark circles were under her eyes. Hollow cheeks framed her face and there was barely an ounce of fat on her bones. James kicked her on the back and she fell to the floor. "Amazing what a little hunger does to a person. She doesn't look that pretty now, does she," said James heartlessly.

Seth felt like beating James to a pulp. His hands were shaking so much for the desire too. "Ivy, I'm so sorry," he said, his voice shaking.

Ivy said nothing and James's fingers began glowing. "What are you doing?" he said in horror.

James said nothing and sent the light cascading around Ivy. She immediately began screaming and tears flowed down her face. James watched his reaction carefully and Seth just stared. "Stop her pain, Seth," he said coldly, "Find the power in that skinny body of yours."

Seth was frozen, "I c-can't I'll kill her. I don't know how," he said desperately, "please you stop it. I'll do anything."

James smiled, "I'm not going to stop it. She either dies from my magic or from yours. Which do you pick? Unless you can figure out how to stop it."

Seth was shaking violently by this time and he struggled to figure out how to stop it without killing her. James seemed to think he could do it, unless he only wanted him to believe he could save her when he really couldn't and blame it all on him.

It was then it hit him. Of course, James had just shown him. He knelt next her screaming and convulsing body and laid a hand on her. He thought about drawing the magic around her into him. Slowly, but surely the magic did. It was hard and exhausting work; you had to focus all the energy you had into pulling it out. Seth nearly fainted once or twice, but he kept going. When the last of the magic was sucked out of her he collapsed to the ground. Ivy wasn't screaming anymore, and he was afraid she was dead. He watched weakly as James took Ivy's body and chained her wrists. So she must still be alive, he thought.

When this was done, James came over to him. "Well done, well done," he complimented him, "I'm surprised you figured it out so fast. But now, you should get some rest." He then felt an ice cold hand gently touch him and he fell into sleep.

James looked at the unconscious boy. "He looks too much like you," said a voice. James turned around and saw a man staring at him. He was tall, though not as tall as him with hair the color of auburn.

James hands immediately began glowing, "When did you come," his voice was icy cold.

The man held up his hands, "I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to talk. The Council is not happy about your actions, and sent me here as a messenger. They want to know why you're doing this."

James's hands glowed brighter, "Is that any of their business. Since when have they cared about this world? What difference does it make that I make a few changes."

The man looked at him menacingly, "They don't care much about the changes you're doing, they care about what you're doing to the children. They're our kin and you're destroying them. They want you to stop and they said if you don't they will have no choice but to hold you on trial. You know our ways, James. Diane taught you our laws, and you must abide by them."

James laughed cruelly, "The children are what they care about. So they wouldn't mind if I destroy the world," he said sarcastically.

The man sighed, "The Council wants to hear your answer. Are you going to let the children go?"

James looked at his hands and said, "Tell your little Council that no, I'm not going to. This is my answer."

The man looked at him incredulously, "You're going to disobey them?"

James nodded, "Yes I am."

The man sighed, "As powerful as you think you are, James. You're no match for them. That is what all you younglings think, that they can do anything they want and no one can stop them. But trust me, you're going to regret this decision." The man then disappeared and James smiled to himself. We'll see who'll win when the time comes.

Seth woke up to the smell of something terrible. The smell was so terrible that it made him want to gag. He groaned, his body felt so tired and achy. "Good you're up,'' said James.

He was the one holding the terrible smell. "What is that in your hand?" he asked.

James looked at him, amused, "Oh you want to try some of it, here." He watched as he stood up from his chair and held the bowl in his hand.

Seth cringed from it and moved away from him. "No, I don't want it."

James rolled his eyes, "When are you going to understand that you don't have much of a choice." He then took hold of his face and squeezed his cheeks, forcing him to open his mouth. He struggled from his grip, but it was useless. "Relax Seth, this is going to help you," said James coolly.

He then took the bowl and poured the contents down his throat carefully. It tasted worse than it smelled. It was like rotting meat soaked in vinegar and blended garbage. He tried to spit it out in James's face, but James was good and forced him to choke on it, until he swallowed it. When he was done he released him. Feeling like vomiting, he leaned over the side of the bed and tried. Nothing came out although he felt it stick to his stomach like sap. "Oh no Seth, you won't be able to vomit that up. It's a special drink," said James.

Seth gave up and wished he had water to wash out the terrible taste from his mouth, "What was that?" he asked.

James set the bowl down and looked at him, "You'll see in a little bit, for now I would like you to just wait here. I'll only be gone a few moments." James then left without a backward glance.

A few minutes later he heard screams and crashes. What was happening? The screams lengthened and Seth started to feel hot and giddy. He was soon pacing back and forth with boundless energy. It was weird, he never had this much energy at one time. He looked at himself and saw he was glowing. Oh no.

The door opened and in came James; a look of worry crossed his features. He then looked at him and smiled, "Oh good, its working. Come you're going to be tonight's main performance."

Seth was struggling to control the magic, but it was soon leaking out of his fingers. James smiled and grabbed him by his arm. He was pulled down many stairs and hallways and the screams began intensifying. Seth had a bad feeling about what was happening. James then came to the door that led out of The Society building. He opened it quickly and he was immediately met with blasts of powers. All of James's army that he had shown him yesterday were here fighting with unknown people in black cloaks. Through the chaos he couldn't see who was winning the fight. Some dead bodies were on the ground, but Seth couldn't recognize any faces.

James then let out a blast of magic, killing five of the cloaked people. The others had put up magical shields just in time. Seth guessed there were about fifty cloaked figures left in all. Seth was gasping; he couldn't control his ability anymore. James noticed this and grabbed his hand aiming them toward a cluster of cloaked people. Magic blasted from his fingers, white hot onto them he heard cried of pain and two of them dropped dead and turned to black ash. The rest had either put up a shield or saved themselves with magic just in time.

"Aim your hands at the people in black," yelled James over the fighting. He then let out another blast of magic and ran into the thick of the fighting.

Seth did as he was told; afraid he might hit one of the kids on accident. Wave upon wave of light exploded from his fingers, sometimes killing, sometimes missing. After about an hour or so he began feeling utterly exhausted and the light faded from his fingers. One of the cloaked figures saw this and ran over to him, a knife in his hand. Seth could do nothing to stop him and closed his eyes, ready for death. Instead, the cloaked person took a handful of his hair and placed the knife over his neck. "Don't you move a muscle," the man whispered in his ear. Seth stayed completely still and the man yelled over the fighting, "Stop this James, or he dies." The cold knife was pressed more tightly on his neck and he felt a trickle of blood.

He looked at James and saw he had been fighting a shape shifter that had turned into a white wolf. It was growling at him, but James wasn't looking at it. Instead he was looking at him, a look of pain on his face. Almost immediately all the kids stopped fighting. "Alright," said James coldly, "I stopped."

He felt the knife loosen on his neck, but the bearer didn't take it away, "Put your hands behind your back," he ordered.

James scowled, but did as he was told. When he did this two cloaked people went toward him and placed their hands on his wrists. Immediately silver cuffs appeared around them. James sighed, "Happy?"

The knife was released from around his neck and the bearer of it nodded. "Yes, James, I am."

James looked humiliated; his lean body was bowed as if he knew he was defeated. "It's lucky that we had your son, otherwise I was afraid we might have resorted to something much more…..unpleasant," said the bearer of the knife, who Seth guessed was the leader, he nodded to the two figures that had put the cuffs on James, "Take him away and put him in cell 1. We'll hold the trial and figure out what to do with him tomorrow." The two cloaked people nodded and grabbed hold of James roughly by the shoulder and disappeared.

Seth was too exhausted to sit up and he collapsed to the ground. The leader looked around at all the chaos and gestured to the rest of the cloaked people, "Let's get the children to the infirmary and clean this place up."

Everyone nodded and the white wolf turned into a slim woman with dark curly hair. He watched as each one took a child and disappeared only to return and get another one. Who were these people? he thought to himself. It was then relief swept through him that he had not felt in years, James was gone, captured. He was free for all he knew.

He didn't notice when the leader came next to him and he jumped slightly. "It's alright," he reassured him, "I just want to ask a few questions."

Seth nodded, "I'm sorry, about killing your people. I didn't know how to control my power and James had forced something down my throat that made it come out."

The leader smiled, "I know it isn't your fault. But I need you to go to James's trial. You're going to be most of the proof of what he has done."

"What are you going to do with him," he asked quietly.

He couldn't see the leaders face, but he heard the anger in his voice, "That information is private. And it would be wise not to dwell on it until the trial."

Chapter29

It turned out that he wasn't free, quite the opposite actually. The leader had teleported him to his place where all the cloaked people lived. It turned out they were all part of a group called the Council. He explained that the council was a group of warriors that helped protect people with abilities and make sure none of them do any sort of trouble. There were laws that you had to live by and if anybody disobeyed them you had to deal with the Council itself.

Seth had asked if he would be let free after James's trial, the leader had refused, saying that there were some things he wanted from him yet. Seth was angry by this and he was forced to be locked in a room.

The building where the Council lived was like a castle. It was gigantic and you could easily get lost in its walls. Most of it was made of stone and there were many windows where sunlight streamed in. The room that he was locked in wasn't bad; in fact it was rather nice. There were red tapestries hanging from the windows and a queen sized bed with golden covers. Various chests and drawers were scattered about the room. He had checked all of them and found two books. They were written in the old language, but he had luckily studied this language at SATS. The books were stories from long ago and Seth found himself getting caught up in each one of them. They were tales of things that were long forgotten over time and Seth was entranced.

Food was brought almost right away and Seth ate it like a half starved animal. It was mostly fruit, large juicy apricots, plums and dates. The drink that was brought was a golden color and sweet. He was almost totally refreshed after that meal.

The bed also was very comfortable and he seemed to sink into the soft sheets. That night he slept better than he had in many, many years.

He woke up to the sound of someone rapping on the door. He quickly bolted up and remembered that The Society was no more. The door opened and in came a girl. It was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and he stood there staring at her. She had long thick dark red hair, and large clear blue eyes. She was small and slim. A look of amusement was on her face. "Well are you going to just stand there or are you going to ask what I'm doing here," she said hotly.

Seth snapped out of his reverie and looked at her with apology, "Sorry, I'm just tired," he lied, "Um….what's your name and what are you doing here?"

The girl smiled and flipped back her hair, "My name's Jessica, but my friends call me Jessie. My master told me to tell you to shower and get dressed in these clothes." Seth looked at her hands and saw the clothes. He had been so stunned by her appearance that he hadn't noticed them. She tossed the clothes to him and he caught them without a second glance. "I'm supposed to stay here until you're done and then take you to the trial," she said confidently.

Seth nodded, "Okay, is there a towel in there?" he said gesturing toward the bathroom.

Jessie nodded, "It's in the drawer over there," she said pointing to a cabinet. Seth set the clothes on the bed and went over to the cabinet and pulled out the white towel. "Be quick," she said impatiently.

Seth rolled his eyes and stepped into the bathroom. He turned on the shower and waited for it to get hot.

When he was done with the shower he dried himself, only to remember he had left the clothes on the bed. He sighed in annoyance and wrapped the towel around his waist. He opened the door of the bathroom and looked at the bed. The clothes weren't there.

"Looking for something?" said Jessie. She was holding the clothes in her hand.

Seth nodded, "Um, yeah." He went over to her and she gave him the clothes, looking at his bare chest.

He felt his face grow hot and was about to go back to the bathroom when she said, "You have a lot of scars. And the bruises on your back don't look so great either. Did that man named James do this to you? If he did, it's a good thing he's on trial. That looks like it hurts."

He opened the door of the bathroom, and paused, "They did. What, you think it wouldn't hurt when four bullets are shot at once inside of you? One on each arm and leg, purposefully to torture you. You think it wouldn't hurt when a torture knife is slit on your arm making your ability tear up inside of you. You think it wouldn't hurt when he uses torture magic inside of you making you want to kill yourself! Trust me there's a lot more he did to me, but somehow I don't think you have the patience to listen to them all."

He then slammed the door and quickly slipped on the nice black pants and blue shirt. No one understands what it was like; he thought angrily, no one. Least of all that beautiful demon.

After changing he opened the door again and a brush was thrown at him. Luckily he was trained for that kind of stuff and he caught it quickly with one hand. Jessie was unimpressed, "Brush your hair also, it's a mess."

Seth glared at her, but stopped seeing how beautiful she was. Snap out of it, he told himself, she shouldn't be attracting you like this. He took the brush and took a few swipes through his hair, "Happy?" he said coldly.

Jessie was also glaring at him, "You know when I first came in here I thought you were nice, apparently you're just as evil as all the boys I've met. But at least you don't have the urge to kiss me every five minutes. Now please, can I brush your hair?"

She came next to him and her smell filled his nose, like sweet strawberries on a hot day. He relented, "Fine, and I'm sorry if I offended you."

She took the brush from his hand, "I forgive you, now stand still."

He waited impatiently as she gently combed his hair. The strokes calmed him from his frustration and the impatience disappeared. "You have such beautiful hair," she commented, "so thick and black. It's….nice."

He said nothing to this and she took longer than necessary combing it. He then stood up and she followed him. "Let me go in the lead," she said, back to her prissy self, "you'll have no idea where we're going."

Seth gestured toward the door, "Take the lead, your majesty."

Jessie rolled her eyes and took out a key, unlocking the door. She led him past many doors and down some stairs before they came to two gigantic wooden doors. They had to be at least twenty feet high and ten feet wide. The moment they came before the doors, Jessie said a weird word in a language he didn't know and the doors opened, creaking loudly. She stepped through the doorway and he followed her. The room was huge and at least a hundred people were in it. They were sitting in chairs and watching what was happening on the podium at the end of the room. The podium was several feet higher than the rest of the room with a few chairs. One of the chairs was made of iron and chains were hooked onto it. The chains were, of course, around James's wrists. His face was bowed so you couldn't see his face. Next to James's chair was a larger more comfortable one. In it was, he guessed the leader. Now that he could see his face he saw that he was a serious man. He had a lean figure and a nice face, not exactly handsome. He was looking at James with unconcealed loathing. On the other side of James was another chair with the shape shifter woman. She wasn't looking at James with the same loathing, more of just dislike.

The leader looked at them as they came in, "You're late."

"Sorry," said Jessie obediently, "He just took a long time."

The leader nodded to hthem to take their seats and Jessie led him to the front row where two seats were reserved for them. Seth sat down in one of them and Jessie in the other. "Let us call the council to order," said the leader commandingly. Everyone in the room was silent, waiting for what was to happen. "Now Judy, will you please list what this man is accused of."

The shape shifter stood up, holding a paper in her hand, "As follows is the list of all the laws he has broken. Killed people for absolute no reason is checked. Killed a one month year old baby is checked. Accused of murdering twenty families is checked. Accused of torturing people until dead is checked. Accused of starving people to death is checked. Accused of torturing people for over three months is checked. Accused of keeping prisoners for no reason except for himself is checked. Accused of keeping under aged children is checked. Accused of controlling people is checked. Accused of killing pregnant woman is checked. Accused of killing his own master is checked. Accused of using illegal magic is checked. Accused of using illegal weapons is checked. The rest are more minor laws, but you get the point."

Seth looked at James, not surprised at all at what he was accused of all of. James was smiling and shaking his head, "Do I sound that bad. Okay first of all I killed one pregnant woman, and that was-."

"Enough, you will not speak before the council, unless commanded to," said the leader coldly. The leader waved a hand over the chains and he saw James grit his teeth in pain. "Now, the penalty of course is death for breaking so many of these laws…..but your ability is very rare, is it not James. So we won't go off killing you lightly."

James glared at the leader, "I'm surprised, I-." His eyes then grew wide as the leader sent a wave of pain through the chains.

"The law also says," continued the leader, "That we aren't allowed to kill anyone under the age of twenty million. Which you so happen to be under. Kind of funny someone so young can do so much."

He heard murmuring among the people in chairs at this. And all Seth could think about was that James was still under age and….he wasn't going to kill him. He stood up, "What!" he yelled at the leader. Everyone immediately became silent. "You aren't going to kill him, after all that he has done! He killed my three year old sister, for God's sake, and he's just going to be let free."

James smiled at his outburst, "Listen to the boy, you should kill me."

The leader ignored James and looked at Seth, "Don't worry; he just won't be set free. In fact he won't be free for the rest of his life."

"NO!" said James harshly, "Kill me, that's what I deserve. That's all I've ever deserved! Please-." The leader glared at him and sent more pain through the chains. James gasped, his eyes bloodshot.

"No James, I know how much you've been waiting to die, but today isn't the day," the leader said coolly, "Now the Council has already discussed your fate and it is as follows. The charges are: first, one year of torturing."

He saw James's face pale at this, his eyes wild, "Second, slave for twenty million years of his life to everybody here. Third, the leader at this time will decide his fate." James's body slumped in the chair at this. "The trial had ended," concluded the leader.

Two large men then released the chains from James's wrists and pulled him up. He didn't even struggle as they pulled him off the podium and out of the room.

Everyone in the room immediately began talking when he left and the room was filled with the sounds of people standing and the chairs scraping across the floor. Seth didn't move from his chair and he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, it was Jessie. "I'll take you back to your room, if you want," she said gently. Her eyes were filled with pity as he nodded weakly.

"Wait, Seth, I need to speak to you," said a gruff voice. He looked in the direction of the voice and saw it was the leader. "Jessica, wait out here until we're done." She nodded and Seth stood up.

"What do you need to tell me," Seth said angrily, "I don't want your sympathy, so if that's what this is about, forget it."

The leader raised his eyebrows, "You should be lucky I know your hurt and mad, otherwise you just might just wish you were still with James. Now come, we'll talk in my office."

The leader went toward the back of the room and Seth followed reluctantly. There was a door on the far left of the podium and he opened it with him following close behind. Seth closed the door and looked at the leader who had sat down in a chair behind a desk. It was a small room filled with many papers and shelves full of books and papers. There weren't many decorations around the room, just a clock and a few wooden carved animals.

The leader was studying him carefully, "Sit down," he said gesturing toward the chair in front of the desk. Seth did as he was told and sat down. "I have a proposal to make," said the leader calmly, looking at him straight in the eyes, "I've been leader for a long time and many people are asking when I'm going to get an apprentice because that's how someone succeeds someone around here. Now I've been looking for a long time and no one had caught my eye. But then you came, and I immediately new you were destined for it. There was just something about you…… so what do you think?"

Seth was shocked; he wanted _him_ to be his apprentice. Him of all people, the son of James. "Frankly, I had the impression that you hated me," Seth said as coolly as he could.

The leader smiled, "I'm a serious man and many people get the wrong impression of what I think of them." He was staring at him, expecting his answer.

Seth looked out the window at the side of the room. Sunlight glinted through it giving the room a homey look. "No," he said quietly, "I'm sorry I don't want to become your apprentice. Why would I, when you wouldn't kill the only person that deserves to die a million times. I wanted him dead for so long…..he killed my adopted mother and sister. He killed many of my friends and tortured me until I was screaming for death. He's done so much evil and yet you let him live!"

The leader looked slightly surprised by his answer and stood up, "James wants die. He has for a long time, ever since his lover died. I'd have given what he's wanted all these years. It is torture enough for him that he has to be a slave for so many years. For that is the ultimate humiliation that anyone can give a person…….I must admit, those weren't the only reasons I kept him alive. He has a very rare ability and it could become useful in the future. Killing him would have accomplished nothing."

Seth glared at him, "Yes, it would have, you would have put a killer to death. You never know if he can escape anytime now. He wouldn't have been a danger anymore."

The leader laughed at this, "I keep forgetting how young you are. You have no idea that once the Council sentences someone they have no choice but to do it. There is very complicated magic behind this and I'm not about to explain it to you. In other words, James has no choice, and must do what is asked of him."

Seth was still shaking his head, "I'm sorry, I won't become your apprentice. I actually want to be let free and maybe find a life for myself."

The leader sighed and said, "That wasn't a question if you wanted to become my apprentice. I was just being nice, it was a people wouldn't refuse such a privilege, but then again you aren't like most people. Your training will begin tomorrow; meet me by my office at five a.m."

He was suddenly fill with unsuppressed rage at this, "What! No, you can't just force me to do something. I gave you my answer, why can't you just accept that?"

The leader murmured something under his breath and Seth collapsed to the floor. He suppressed a scream, but couldn't help but let out an involuntary moan. This was different magic than what James did. James didn't have to say anything, it was his ability. But this pain was different. It was like a feeling of pain, but not pain itself. The leader stood next to him, "Actually I can force you, if I have to. But I'd rather not do that, Seth." He then released the magic and Seth let out a gasp of relief.

"I thought it was against the law to torture people," he said weakly.

The leader sighed, "You have so much to learn. Torture is allowed by masters training and punishments for terrible prisoners. Now, you're my apprentice and you aren't behaving the greatest, so I'm allowed to."

Seth slowly stood up and looked down, "So there's no choice," he said defeated.

"No," said the leader coldly.

He went over to the door, "I'll see you tomorrow then."

He twisted the doorknob, but the door was locked. He looked at the leader expectantly. He smiled, "Sorry, and walk with Jessica to your room, please." He said a few words and he heard the door unlock. He opened it and came out into the trial room.

Jessie was sitting in a chair looking bored. She looked up in relief when he came out. "Finally, that took forever."

He said nothing and continued past her. She stood up quickly and followed him. "What's the big deal," she said, "Can't you just slow down a little."

Seth ignored her and kept on walking fast. His footsteps were very loud against the marble, but he didn't care about being silent anymore. He heard Jessie let out an exasperated sigh, "Are you acting this way because of James? If you are I'm sorry, okay. He sounded…..pretty bad. But maybe if you slow down a little you can talk to me about it a little. Get it off your chest."

He stopped and looked at Jessie who smiled, "Finally."

"Can you please stop talking about James," he said tiredly, not feeling like arguing, "I just want a little time by myself for a little while."

Jessie looked at her feet, "Okay, I understand. But can you tell me what the leader wanted with you? Then I'll shut up."

Seth continued walking, but slower this time, "You always want to know things, don't you?"

She shrugged, "I get in trouble a lot for being curious about things."

He nodded, "Fine, he asked me to become his apprentice."

Jessie stopped walking, "He what!"

"Asked me to become his apprentice or more _commanded_ me to. Now can you shut up."

Seth continued walking, but Jessie was just looking at him incredulously. "Do you know how much of an honor that is?" she said, "You should be…..I don't know…..be happy about it."

He turned around and glared at her, "SHUT UP! Isn't that what you said you would do?" he cried, angrily, "I told you what you wanted to know, didn't I. Yes, I'm apprenticed to the, oh so great leader because I was forced to, okay. So please, just leave me alone."

By this time they had came to his room. He opened it and slammed the door in her face. A few minutes later he heard the lock click and soft footsteps retreating from the door. He knew that he had been a little harsh with her, but he didn't care. He was just so frustrated and angry. James wasn't dead yet, was the probably the worst part of the day. But he was also going to be apprenticed to the leader. All he wanted right now was to live his own life, but that apparently was never going to happen.

He threw himself onto the bed and lay there, trying to calm himself. He remembered an old trick that he learned at SATS to calm oneself. You had to breathe in and out deeply, taking care to only concentrate on each breath. You had to make sure each breath filled your diaphragm and then let it out slowly, until there was no air left and then breathe in again. He tried this for a few minutes and his heart beat slowed and his body began to relax.

He closed his eyes and without really meaning to, fell into sleep. His dreams were confusing. He kept seeing his mother over and over again and James. Except James kept killing her over and over, but she always seemed to wake up. The killings became more and more gruesome and then Seth woke up. Cold sweat rushed down his forehead and he shivered. His throat felt raw and he knew that he must have been screaming. He looked at the clock bedside his bed, 4:00 p.m. He had an hour to kill before he had to meet his master.

Sleeping was definitely out of the question, so Seth picked up one of the old books and began reading. He found he could barely concentrate and soon gave up. He set the book down and rubbed his head, trying to get the dream out of his head. It was then he heard the door unlock and Jessie came in. She didn't even glance at him, "Get up, I'm supposed to take you down. It's like I'm your personal servant or something."

He stood up, "Might as well go," he muttered.

She watched as he walked out the door and she followed close behind. He walked slowly, dreading every step and too soon they came outside of the gate. A cold wind blew through the dawning sky, making him shiver slightly. The leader was leaning against the gate watching him with calm eyes. "You may leave, Jessica," he said.

She bowed and went back into the building. The leader gestured for him to come over. He did as he was told. "You must have had a terrible night," he commented, "you can tell by your eyes."

Seth nodded, "Yeah, I had a great night, like usual."

The leader studied him with deep eyes. They seemed so old and…..wise. He wondered how old this man was. "You will refer to me as master. Nothing else and now we'll start your training. But first I want you to meet someone." His master then nodded into the shadows and a figure appeared. It was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had long golden hair and glowing green emerald eyes. She was of medium height and slim. Her eyes were looking at him with such compassion and Seth knew he must be dreaming because it was the exact same woman that he had just dreamt about.

It was his mother.

Chapter 30

James was led, by the cuffs, all the way down into the dungeons. He knew it was useless trying to escape, the cuffs were special and they muted your power. But he didn't really care his plan was working perfectly. The leader was such an idiot not to notice that all he was doing was just an act. What he really wanted was to die, but since that wasn't happening he had to move to plan B.

The two large guards came to the door of cell 1. It was the worst and dirtiest cell of the whole place and was only used for special prisoners. It was also, not to mention, the smelliest. It smelled like rotting human carcasses, not exactly the best scent ever.

The guards unlocked the gate of the cell with magic and shoved him in. He fell to the ground and rolled back up onto his feet in seconds. One of the guards, the bigger one, grabbed him by his shoulder again and pushed him against the wall. James wished he could blast him to pieces, but there was nothing he could do. The guard laughed at his look of anger. "It's hard being helpless, isn't it? Amazing how weak a powerful person like you can be without your ability."

James forced his face to be calm, "You would already be dead right now if my hands were free. Ability or not. I could just pull out your heart with my bare hands or maybe rip your head off."

The guard looked at him angrily and punched him straight on his jaw. Luckily, James managed to maneuver his head, so his jaw wouldn't break. It didn't hurt that much, but the next punch did. It was directed to his stomach. He didn't even let out one sound, just watched the guard get a grip with his anger. It was so easy to anger someone, all you do is play off their fears and they're yours. "It's a good thing they'll be torturing you non-stop for a year. Some people don't even survive," said the guard, coldly.

James laughed harshly, "Let us hope I die then. That will be bliss."

He watched as the guard then took hold of his shirt and ripped it off. At James's look of confusion the guard said, "The torture chains work better if they're on bare skin."

James sighed, "Are you sure it isn't something else?"

He was immediately kicked in the stomach again and again. James was laughing as he did this, this was actually getting fun. The guard then shoved him against the wall again and secured shackles to his wrists and ankles, taking care to do so it hurt him as much as possible. He then unlocked the cuffs around James's wrists, now that the shackles were in place. He probably looked pretty pathetic, now that he was all chained up to the wall of the cell. "So you going to put the torture magic in the chains, yet," said James, still smiling.

The guard glared at him and shook his head, "The leader said he wanted to talk with you first, I suspect he'll be here for a few minutes. He's talking to your son right now."

James's head shot up, the smile gone, "What! Why? What does he want with him?" He had a bad feeling he already knew the answer.

"That is none of your business," said the smaller guard.

It was then he heard the creak of a door opening and in came the leader. He gestured toward the door, "Leave us."

The guards bowed and left the room quickly. When they were gone the leader opened the cell door. It let out a loud creak of protest, before it was slammed shut. He was looking at him with careful eyes, the touch of a smile on his face. James glared at him, "Enjoying yourself," he said mockingly.

The leader smiled wider, and murmured a few words. Immediately a searing cold began creeping into his heart and what felt like millions of knives searing into every inch of his skin. He let out a cry more of surprise than pain. It hurt a ton. "I remember when you were little," said the leader, "Everyone hated you because of your ability. Many people wanted to kill you, afraid what you would become when you were older. The Council refused to kill you and your parents abandon you. I don't know how you survived, but suddenly you're in jail and Diane finds you. You disappeared for a few years, and you fell in love.

"What happened James? How are you even capable of feeling that emotion? Is it true that you've been living in hell ever since she died?"

James was getting uncomfortable and angry at the mention of Lizzie, "Shut up about her, she's none of your business. Now get on with the torturing."

He smiled at James's sudden anger, "I know you're going to escape, but you can't, I've made it impossible. Try your little trick that you were going to do. But before I get on with your torturing I have one more question. Is it true you at first started killing people so that the Council would kill you? After all, Diane put that curse on you so that you couldn't kill yourself. And anyone else that even tries killing you will not kill you either. Such a terrible curse to live with, especially for you and the only way to stop it was if the Council killed you. But then you became so twisted that you started giving into your ability. Soon all you wanted was to kill, torture and force people to do your will when the old James would have cringed at all that stuff. Is it possible to love a person so much that they become into a monster when they're gone?"  
He pulled as hard as he could against the chains; he felt some of his skin scrape off from the force of it, ""You should kill me now," he seethed, "isn't that what I deserve? I don't care if you torture me in the worst way ever, until I die. I just want…..this to end. I can't take it. I feel this urge to hurt…..to kill. It's like I'm trapped in between two sheets of ice and the only way out is to simply die."

The leader looked at him, his face emotionless, "Everyone dies, it is the natural order of life. Eventually you will die, but unfortunately you're going to have to wait a while."

"WHY!!" he screamed at him, "All I ask is what most people don't want and it isn't even hard to do. Do you know how long I've tortured myself, trying to die? Do you know how much I am suffering right now? I ask one thing, one simple thing. It's only the second thing that I really wanted. Please."

The leader looked at him coldly, "The Council doesn't give what people want. They give them punishment and this is yours for what you've done. You should have known that, James."

James's body shuddered and he hung limp. It was then a figure stepped out of the shadows, "My lord, please, I know what I have to do." He looked up and his heart almost stopped. It was the most beautiful creature in the world; it filled his heart with an unexpected emotion. An emotion he had not felt in many, many years.

It was Lizzie.

The leader nodded at her and she came toward him. His heart skipped a beat and he smelled her familiar smell. Like pines and a refreshing breeze. It couldn't be true, he thought, it just couldn't. "James," she said softly and touched his hair.

"This isn't real," he murmured, "It's just a dream."

"James, look at me," she said sadly, "And tell me if it's a dream." James obediently looked into her green emerald eyes. They sparkled with such beauty and goodness. He suddenly wanted to hold her and kiss her, tell her everything was alright and they could go back to the way things were. How he wanted to say those words.

"You're alive," he said, his voice cracking.

She nodded slowly, "Oh James, it's been so long. Now look what you've done. You've changed so much and you've done such terrible things. I should hate you, but it seems I can't. I love you so much."

James barely heard those words and without meaning to, they were kissing. Their lips moving in one motion. His heart felt like it was going to burst with love and he didn't want that moment to end. He felt her hand on the back of his head, twisting in his hair. He wanted to do the same thing, but his arms were chained. He didn't know how long the kiss lasted, but it felt like only a few seconds to him before they broke apart. Her eyes were glimmering with love, but she stood up. He wanted to say no, he wanted her next to him so they could talk. He didn't care what they would talk about; he just wanted to hear her voice, just wanted to feel her warm body against his.

The leader looked at this whole scene with slight surprise. He then murmured a few words and James let out a scream in surprise. The chains were suddenly burning hot on his skin and seeping, what felt like liquid fire into his skin. He quickly clenched his jaw to keep from crying out again, determined not to show Lizzie that he was in this much pain. Lizzie was glaring at the leader, "What are you doing?!! Stop it, I…..need to talk with him some more."

He smiled unkindly, "You've had enough time with him it's time for his punishment now. Although, I'm going to force you to stay. I'm sure James loves you seeing him in pain."

James, by this time wanted to scream his heart out, and it took almost all his will not to. "Lizzie," he managed to say through gritted teeth, "Just don't look…..I want……you to know that……our son-."

"James," she said, looking like she was about to cry, "Don't talk anymore, save your energy. You have a whole year of this."

He managed to nod, before the pain overtook him and he could think of nothing else.

At least he had something to live for again.

Chapter 31

"Seth," his mother said gently, "Do you know who I am?"

Seth just stood there, staring at her. He didn't know what he should be feeling, anger, happiness, relief? "Are you my mother?" he asked her.

Lizzie nodded, "I am, oh Seth, you've grown. Look at you, so tall and handsome. The last time I saw you, you were just a baby. I've missed you so much." Her eyes sparkled with love and a deep sadness. She came closer to him and reached out to him.

He took a step back, "I thought you were dead? If you were alive this whole time, then where were you?" He wanted to say more, but held his tongue, knowing she would explain everything.

She looked at him straight in his eyes and said, "It's a long story. But if you wish to hear it, you need permission from your master ."

Seth looked at his master, who nodded, "Tell him and when you're done bring him to my office."

She nodded also, "Of course." He then disappeared into the darkness, as if he was never there in the first place. Lizzie gestured for him to sit down in the grass, but Seth didn't move and only stared at his mother, waiting. She didn't seem that surprised and sat down on the grass herself, her long golden hair looking like silver in the dark. "Seth, please, if you wish me to show you the story then you must come next to me. In order for you to understand it, I need to show you my memories."

He sighed and relented sitting down next to her. She was still staring at him as if he couldn't believe he was really here. She then spoke, her voice like the gentle breeze swaying in the trees, "Have you ever done memories before?"

Seth nodded, "Yes, Matt showed me a few of them once."

Her eyes clouded with sadness at the mention of Matt and she took her hand and placed it on his head gently. Immediately his vision went black and then everything was a swirl of color. It eventually settled on one image. It was Matt and Lizzie talking in worried tones. Lizzie looked younger, but Matt looked the same as ever. "I'm pregnant," she said to him, her eyes full of fear, "I know, I'm foolish. But I love him so much, and he loves me too much. When I mean too much, I mean it. It'll kill him if he finds out, please, I don't know what to do."

Matt was looking at the ground, his hands twirling around each other, "You realize if Diane finds out, what will happen. When did you last see James?"

"Four weeks ago. He's convinced that he is free once he's done with his training. Can't you do something, save him, maybe? Maybe the fantasy he's dreaming about can actually happen and we can raise our baby in peace."

Matt's eyes looked at her, his eyes filled with unbearable sadness, "I'll see what I can do. But Diane watches him like a hawk. James is more powerful than her, but he doesn't know that. Maybe I can……" he paused looking at her, "I'll see what I can do. Just wait for now and don't by any chance see him, you understand. This is important."

Lizzie nodded and the memory faded into blackness. A new memory took its place to reveal Lizzie stopping a car and jumping out of it quickly. They were in some sort of dark alley again and a light sprinkling of rain was falling. She looked terrible, black circles were under her eyes and the jeans and t-shirt she was wearing were torn. Her belly was a little round from pregnancy. She ran toward someone, who he recognized as James. Seth had to admit he looked a lot worse than Lizzie. A long bloody scrape extended from his cheek all the way down to his collarbone where it disappeared in his shirt. A few bruises were on his cheekbones and his dark hair was a mess. His black eyes were looking at her in relief. They embraced and James kissed her on the side of the neck, "I thought something happened," he murmured in her ear.

Lizzie closed her eyes, "We have to go, James. Now, before she-."

"Well, well, well who do we have here?" said a cold voice. James eyes flew wide and he turned around quickly arms extended and hands spread out. Out stepped Diane, she looked the same as ever, and a cruel smile was on her face. "James, I'm very disappointed. Didn't we just learn about girls? Is this why you haven't been focusing lately?"

James was glowing and a look of fear was on his features, "Don't touch her!!" his voice was fierce and he stood protectively in front of Lizzie.

Lizzie, meanwhile, was looking terrified at James. Diane's smile was wider now, "Love, is it possible, James. What a powerful emotion to have. Now come on, I want to see her face." She then murmured a few words and James was flown backwards and wacked into a building hard. He crumpled to the floor, and struggled to crawl back up.

Diane, on the other hand, was studying Lizzie, "She's a beautiful one, James. You have a good taste."

"Let him go!!" said Lizzie bravely, and the rain began to splatter harder.

Diane looked at Lizzie and murmured a few words and James began screaming in agony. He was convulsing in pain and Diane only continued looking at Lizzie. She had a look of horror on her face and the sky lit up with lightening and the loud roar of thunder roared in their ears. Rain was dripping down both their face and both were soaked through. "Let him go," she said nastily, "Why would I do that? One little push and he could become a killer, the greatest. And he'll be mine too. Just think, he'll be done with his training soon and then he'll be al mine."

Lizzie's eyes blazed like a wildfire, "James would never become a killer. Least of all to YOU!'

Diane looked mildly annoyed by Lizzie and she murmured a few more words and James was dragged like a doll on a string toward her. She stopped the torture magic on him and he immediately struggled with what looked like all his will to stand. His legs were shaking and he looked about to collapse at any moment. She smiled at him, and James weakly glared at her. "So James, what should I do with her? This is very upsetting and we need to figure out what to do about this….situation."

James hands began glowing brighter and he let out a blast of magic at her. She sighed as the magic slid harmlessly around her. "Master," he said painfully, "Please, just let her go. Punish me, do anything. I won't…….see her again. I'll do anything."

Diane let a pitiless laugh and her hands extended toward Lizzie. "Stop it Diane," said a dangerous voice.

She didn't even turn around, "Well, if it isn't my little brother."

Matt appeared out of the pouring rain, his blonde hair was plastered to his head and he had his hands up, "I just want to talk."

Lizzie's eyes looked at him with hope and James came toward her, only to be thrown to the ground by Diane. "What do we need to talk about?" she said, "There's nothing you can do. I let you build that stupid school. Now let me do what I want to do."

James groaned and looked at Matt, his eyes pleading. Matt looked at James also and Lizzie, "Surely we can come to a deal? You heard the boy, he won't see her again. He said he'll do anything."

Diane sighed, "You really care about Lizzie, don't you. Well I'm sorry, I'm not going to ruin this fun day." Power then flowed from her fingers and into Lizzie. She looked surprised and then collapsed to the ground, dead. James didn't even move and looked at the dead Lizzie in horror. It was then it registered inside of him and he let out a strangled cry. It filled the air with pain and unbearable sadness.

He stood up, his whole body glowing like a ball of fire. James went over to Diane and power blasted from his fingers at her. She put up her hands also and their magic met in one large blast before James fell to his knees, releasing it. He then took his hands touched his neck, about to do suicide. But Diane was too fast and forced James's hands to his sides. He suddenly began sobbing, his body shaking. His tears were washed away with the rain and his soaking black hair was in his face. "Look what you've done," said Matt quietly, "You will regret ever doing this, Diane. It will be the end of you."

Diane smiled, "You have no idea what I've done. I've changed the world, that's what I've done."

James was standing again, his eyes full of madness. He then sprinted toward Matt, his hands balled in fists. "You did this; you said you wouldn't let this happen! You promised she would be okay, you said you'd never let this happen to her. You're a LIAR!!"

Matt calmly took hold of James's shoulders and looked him in the eyes. James suddenly began sobbing again, his head falling to his chest. "Look at me;" said Matt calmly, "She's in a better world now. A world full-."

"SHE"S IN HELL!!" James screamed and sobbed at the same time, "That's where she is!" He could say no more and Diane came over to him and pulled James away from Matt.

He didn't even struggle just let himself get led by Diane. A fierce glow then began coming from her hands and she pushed her hand over his heart. He let out a terrible scream, and Diane held him tight, making sure he didn't collapse. "Just to make sure you don't do anymore attempts at suicide," she murmured.

Soon he was limp in her arms, fainted. Diane was smiling at him and Matt was looking at this scene in revulsion. "He won't be the same again. You broke him."

Diane laughed maliciously and carried James toward Lizzie. She then disappeared with him and Lizzie was gone.

Seth's vision went black again and a new memory came. They were in some kind of bedroom. A king sized bed covered half the room and a large window looked out over a large meadow. Various cabinets were along the walls and pictures of a horse and zebra adorned the walls. Lizzie looked better than the last memory, but a look of sadness was on her face. Her belly was huge and she was looking out the window. The door opened and in came Diane. Her long black hair hung like a black sheet down her back and her different color eyes were full of wickedness. "The baby is due any day now," she said, "Then I won't have to keep forcing you to eat."

Lizzie looked at her miserably, "What are you going to do with my baby?"

Diane looked at her coldly, "That is none of your business. If you hadn't had a baby you would already be dead."

Lizzie looked away tears in her eyes, "I just wanted to check on you to make sure the baby didn't come," Diane continued before she left.

A few minutes later the door opened and in came……Matt. A look of happiness was on his face, "You're alive! I thought you were dead for sure, but unfortunately James doesn't know this."

Lizzie looked at him hopefully, "You can help me get out of here. Save my baby, oh please. Diane's going to do something horrible to him or her, I can't let that happen." A look of pain then crossed her features and her eyes grew wide.

Matt immediately went to her side, "Is it coming?"

She nodded wildly, "Yes, Matt, listen. When the baby's born take it away from me. Give it to someone loving and kind. Let him grow up without knowing anything and take care of him when he's old enough. Never tell him who his parents are until there is no other choice. James must never know. Leave me here."

He was shaking his head, "The baby needs a mother. It needs care I just can't give it to any random person on the street. Plus, I can't just let you die after I just found you alive."

She let out another gasp and she put her hand over her oversized stomach, "Please, for the baby and me, do as I say."

He looked at her pleading face and nodded reluctantly, "I will, I promise."

She looked at him in relief before another spasm went through her body.

His vision went black again and another memory took its place. Here he was in some sort of dungeon. Lizzie was lying on the floor, her golden hair looking brown from the amount of filth in it. Diane was standing in the cell with her, she looked furious, "Where is he? I'm getting tired of torturing you. Just tell me where he is and I'll let you have the relief of dying."

Lizzie was silent and green fire erupted from Diane's hands onto her. Seth heard a scream before the memory faded.

He woke up from the memories to see Lizzie looking at him worriedly. He felt cold sweat drip down from his forehead and he was shaking. "Mom," he whispered. And suddenly they were both in a warm embrace.

"I thought I would never see you again," Lizzie said, her voice beginning to crack, "Diane kept me in that dungeon until she was killed by James. I escaped after that and came here. At this time I barely knew what he had done, but now I do. But……I still love him."

Seth pulled away almost immediately after she said that. "You still love him?! How? You must not know the full extent of what he has done. James in not the same man he was before you supposedly died. He's become a monster and kills innocent people. He thinks its fun to kill my family members that took care of me for sixteen years as punishment. One of them was three years old!! How can you love a man like that?"

Lizzie looked away from him, her eyes having a faraway look, "I don't know…….Why did I even fall in love with him in the first place? Did Matt ever tell you that no boys really interested me? While all my girl friends found boys and dated with them, I refused every boy that asked me. I was focused on my studies and wanted to become a healer. But when I met your father it was like a……shooting star crossing my vision. He was everything I had ever wanted in a boy. So dark and handsome, but kind. You probably won't believe this, but one time we saw this sick doe and James couldn't bare the sight of it. He carried it all the way back to SATS and it was healed there. He always wanted to help, but whenever I asked about his training with Diane he wouldn't say anything about it. We loved each other and they were the happiest days of my life."

He looked at her in surprise, "He helped a sick doe," he said disbelievingly.

She nodded, "Yes."

Seth stood up, "You realize he probably would never do something like that again. Did you even visit him yet?"

She nodded again and she looked away from him, "I visited him. You should have seen the look on his face. At first I barely recognized him, he looks so….different. But I had never felt such happiness at seeing him; it was like some part of me was sewn back together. It was hard seeing him, I can tell he's gotten more powerful. But the leader made me watch as he got tortured for twenty minutes to let James feel the pain of me watching him. He didn't scream once while I was there, but I don't know if that's true now. How can anybody survive a year of torturing that harsh, I don't know."

His mother looked at him again and he sighed, "My master will probably be mad that we're talking this long, we should go."

"You don't want to talk to me, do you," she said sadly, "I can understand if you don't."

Seth shook his head "No, it's not that. It's……I don't know."

She nodded, "We'll talk while we walk there."

They walked slowly to the gate of the building when his mother asked, "So, tell me more about yourself. I would like to know more about my son."

He looked at his feet, "What do you need to know about me?"

"Well," she continued, "What do you like to do? What are your hobbies?"

Seth felt a little awkward talking to someone of what he liked, he had never really told anyone. "Um, I like playing guitar, although I haven't had one in forever. I miss not playing it every day. I like reading, although I used to hate it. James was actually the one who made me like it. I miss horseback riding and I love to fence. Hand fighting's good too, but driving is better. I don't like cleaning things; I'd rather have things messy. In my opinion it's easier to find stuff. I miss listening to my ipod, some of the songs on there were awesome." As he continued talking, he found it was easy to talk to her, like in the old days when he would talk to his friends about random stuff. She listened attentively also and he found himself telling all about himself. He was actually sort of sad when they came to his master's office.

She smiled at him and Seth did also. It then dawned on him that he hadn't smiled in a long time. "It was nice to…..talk with you," she said meaningfully, "I'm glad I got to know more about you."

He shrugged, "It's just weird for me that I have a mother again."

"You can call me Lizzie, don't call me mom. I think that would be a little awkward, wouldn't it?"

He nodded, "It would, Lizzie."

She laughed and waved her hand, "I'll see you tomorrow." She then walked away and Seth opened the door of his master's office. He was writing something and he put his hand up in a gesture of, one second. He waited patiently while his master finished writing. He then set his pen down.

"Did you have a good time?" he asked him.

Seth nodded, "Yes, I actually did."

His master nodded and stood up, "Come, for today's training we will need to go for a little walk."

"Okay," he said and followed his master out the door. He walked fast and he was almost jogging to keep up. They walked down many hallways till they came to a staircase that led down so far that he couldn't even see where it ended. They walked down this staircase briskly and after a few minutes it began to get colder. He was soon shivering and he could see his breath in the air. Finally they came to the bottom of the stairs and Seth smelled a horrid smell. He felt like retching. It smelled like death, as in rotting flesh and old blood.

"Where are we g-going," he said his teeth almost chattering.

His master ignored him and said a few words. Immediately torches that lined the walls of the dark hallway lit with light. He let out a gasp at what he saw. What looked to be hundreds of cells were against the stinking walls. Almost all of them were empty. Most of them had human bones in them and it took a lot of his will to not go run back down the hall and start throwing up. "Welcome Seth, to the dungeons of the Council," said his master coldly, "Anyone who is sent on trial is sent here. If you're sent to die, you die down here. Same with torture." As if to prove his point he heard an agonized scream farther in the darkness.

"What are we doing here," he said in horror.

His master looked at him in surprise, "You can probably guess."

James, he thought.

He then, reluctantly followed his master farther down the cold dark hallway. After a while he began noticing that they were still descending into the ground. Twenty minutes later, he heard terrible screams and they came to the last cell in the dungeons. Seth's stomach flipped at what he saw. There was James, chains were on his wrists and ankles and the skin there had been scraped until there was just blood oozing out of it. His hair was a complete mess and covered in sweat. The floor around him was smeared with dark blood and he didn't seem to notice anything around him. His bare chest was also covered with blood and he looked much thinner then he was before. His ribs stuck out in the little light and he was convulsing on the floor, sometimes screaming, sometimes moaning.

Seth took a step back from the site, this wasn't James. James didn't look like this; he was always strong and powerful. Always confident, not reduced to the creature on the floor right now. He thought he would feel satisfaction at James being treated like this, but all he felt was pity. No one should be treated like this; all he had wanted was James to die quickly. He just wanted him to just be gone from the world, not this.

His master looked at him, "Hard to see someone like James, turned to this, isn't it."

He was speechless and his master opened the door of the cell and knelt by James. He then quickly caught hold of his hair and James let out a painful cry, his body struggling from the leader's grip. "Relax James," he murmured, "I just have to add one more thing to your suffering. We can't always have your screams waking up everyone down here. It could be bad." He watched as his master took a cloth from his pocket and pushed it in James's mouth and tied it behind his head. The screams and the moaning disappeared in the cloth and his master let go of James's hair. He fell to the floor and was kicked in the stomach. James's black eyes were glazed and shown with pain.

"I-I've had enough," Seth said appallingly, "What does this h-have to do with my training?"

His master came out the cell and Seth tried not to look at James. "It has many things to do with your training. Your learning about punishment, what you must do when you have someone like him that needs to be punished. You're also learning where all the cells are. So look closely and learn."

"Let's just go," he said, just wanting to run from this horrid place.

His master looked at him quizzically "How old are you?"

Surprised by the randomness of the question, he said, "I'm…..fifty-six."

His master let out an amazed laughed, "Fifty-six! You're so young! I think you might be the youngest person that has ever been down here. Luckily you reminded me, because I might have been giving you stuff too advanced for your age. Come, we'll leave."

Relieved, Seth followed his master out of the dungeon and into the warm, pleasant air above. "Master," he asked him as they walked, "You know the kids you saved from James. What happened to them? Are they alright?"

"They are in the infirmary," his master replied, "So far no one had died except a small boy. The lack of food, made it too late to save him."

Seth nodded, "I was wondering," he said slowly, "Could I go to the infirmary. I want to check on someone. I feel it was my fault to what happened to her."

His master stopped and turned around to face him, "How old is this girl," he asked him.

"She's fifty-four, master."

"Fifty-four," his master said, "nearly the same age as you…..I will let you go, but I must warn you. You better not be in love with her or ever fall in love. That is one of the rules of being an apprentice to the leader; you're not allowed to fall in love. You understand?"

He bowed, "I'm not in love with her, and I promise I'll never fall in love."

"I'll keep you to your promise, Seth;" he said firmly, "The infirmary is on the highest level. You can't miss it. Just take this hallway take a left and you'll come to the stairs, then climb up them till they end. I'll send Jessie up to escort you when you're done. Since training is over for today you can go anywhere you want in the building as long as she's with you."

"Do you not trust me?" Seth asked him, "You think I'm going to escape?"

His master chuckled at this, "I don't trust you at all, Seth, I know for a fact that you would escape the first chance you get. Not that you would get that far, but I'd rather not spend my time chasing after you."

Seth bit his lip from snapping back a retort at this and bowed again, "If that's what you think. I'll be going now."

He then walked down the hall and followed the instructions his master had said. He was soon sprinting up the stairs blazing fast until they ended. He was excited, yet worried what Ivy would be like, how changed she would be.

He soon came to the door and opened it slowly. In the room there were many beds, almost all of them with a kid lying in it. People in white smocks were running from bed to bed, helping each of them. Bright sunlight shown through the many windows along the walls, making the room look bright and welcoming. He walked down the white polished marble floor and looked at all the beds for Ivy. One of the infirmary people saw him and came over to him. An annoyed look on her face, "As you can see we're a little busy to have visitors at the moment."

"I'm sorry," he said apologetically, "I just wanted to visit a friend. I wanted to see if she's….alright."

The infirmary woman's face softened, "Who did you want to see?"

"Um, a girl named Ivy," he said hurriedly, "Do you know her. She has dirty blonde hair, blue eyes. She'll be really bony and-."

The woman put her hand up and smiled, "There are many kids here. I haven't memorized what they all look like. So just look around."

He nodded, relieved, "Thanks."

"No problem, now excuse me," she said before she ran off to do more duties.

He, meanwhile, looked at all the beds. He eventually found her covered in a heap of white blankets. She looked terrible; her face looked bruised and tired. Her hair hung down in limp, greasy strands. When he came over to her, her eyes lit up and a smile came on her face. "You came to visit me," she croaked.

He nodded and knelt next to her, "How are you feeling?"

She coughed and said, "I'm okay, you?"

He shrugged, "Physically I am, but mentally I'm a mess." She giggled a little at this before she began coughing again. "I'm so sorry," he said miserably, "This is my entire fault. I should have saved you. I should have done something. You shouldn't be like this."

Ivy stopped coughing, "Stop blaming yourself, Seth, none of this your fault. For once can't you be happy. I want you to smile and laugh. I love when you do that, you look so……beautiful. Now talk to me, I want to hear what happening with you."

He looked at Ivy sadly and touched her hair, "I ignored you at SATS. I should have been with you more, but I was so caught up I-."

"_Seth_," said Ivy warningly, "You keep blaming yourself, if you haven't noticed."

He looked into her eyes, "Sorry, I'm not making this any better am I?"

She nodded, "You aren't. Now tell me what's happening with you." She then went into another fit of coughing. He looked at her worriedly and she stopped a minute later.

"Well, I found out that my mother was alive this morning."

She looked at him in surprise, "You're joking. She was alive this whole time? How?"

"It's a long story…… and I don't think I have enough time to tell it to you right now. How about later when you're better."

"Okay," she said weakly.

It was then he heard a sassy girl voice, "Are you done talking with her yet."

Seth turned around and looked at Jessie. She was leaning against the wall and he was again struck on how breathtakingly beautiful she was. He forced himself to ignore this fact, "As a matter of fact I'm not done yet. Now why don't you just shut up for a second."

She smiled at him, showing glimmering white teeth, "Fine, you're the boss. I'm just your servant."

He forced himself to ignore her. He then turned back to Ivy who was glaring at Jessie. A look of hatred and jealousy was on her face. He put his hand over her cold one, "If there is anything you need, you just have to call."

"Actually, said Jessie, her voice full of scorn, "He's apprenticed to the leader, so I really don't think he'll have time to listen to your _call._"

Right then Seth felt like punching her in the face, Ivy noticed his sudden look of anger and said gently, "You've changed a lot."

He forced himself to ignore Jessie's sneering, "Have I?"

Ivy nodded weakly, "Yeah, remember when we were with Keri and we set you up with that really dorky disguise. You know, she sprayed you with that red hair paint and forced you to put on those dorky glasses."

He smiled as he remembered that day, "It seems such a long time ago…….but sometimes I still want to go back to that day when we still had a little hope, you know."

Ivy looked at him sadly, "Now you wouldn't even care if you look dorky. You would just do as you're told and not make a fuss about it. And don't lie to me, I know you wouldn't. James destroyed that little spoiledness that you had left. Sometimes I wish I could go back to the day when I was with my parents and you could go back to being a rock star."

Seth stood up, and took his hand off hers, "Don't we all wish that," he said acidly, "But it is as likely to happen as James is going to die……" he then said more gently, "I'm sorry, you're right. I've become a mean angry beast. I'll go if you don't want to hear me roar every five minutes."

She laughed and began coughing again. He looked at her worriedly and she smiled, "You're blaming yourself again. You need to work on that. Maybe blame someone that was actually the cause of it." When she saw his face looking at her with concern she continued saying, "And smile more. It would also be nice if you could relax for a few days, but it seems like you can't do that."

He nodded, "I've missed you Ivy. I'll go now so you can rest and I'll really try to visit you every day."

"Not going to happen," said Jessie, in an annoyed voice.

He rolled his eyes and Ivy smiled, "I've more than missed you, Seth," she said feebly.

He forced himself to smile at her and turned toward Jessie. She gestured toward the exit, "After you, your majesty."

He glared at her, but went toward the exit of the hospital. When they were out the door, Jessie looked relieved. "I hate the infirmary, it smells too much of illness. That's why I could never be a healer."'

"And I hate you," said Seth icily.

Jessie raised her carefully plucked eyebrows, "Somehow I've never heard a boy say that."

He started walking down the stairs, "Then today is your lucky day."

They continued walking down the stairs in silence and when they reached the bottom Jessie asked, "So where do you want to go. I hope you don't want to go to your room, because then I'll be bored all day. My master only wants me to focus on you now."

He shrugged, "I guess I just wanted to explore the place. Is there a library or stables or something? I don't know and it seems you're the only tour guide around here. Personally I would have preferred any other person, but it seems you're the only one around."

She let out a light laugh and flipped back her long dark red hair in a careless gesture. He was immediately stunned again and it took almost all his will to look away from her. What was wrong with him? "I'll be happy to give you a tour of the place and as a matter of fact there is a library _and_ a stable. Just follow me."

She turned toward the right and walked briskly. He tried to pay attention to all the different turns they walked so he could find his way later. After a few minutes they came to a large wooden door with brass doorknobs. She went over to the doorknob and grabbed it while heaving her body against the door. It didn't budge and he watched the muscles on her long bare forearms tighten with exertion. "Damn door! I can never get it open."

He smiled at her obvious struggle with the door, "Here let me try," he offered.

She glared at him, and then shrugged, "You can try."

She stepped away from the door and he went toward it and grasped the brass handle. He tried to push the door inward, but it didn't even move an inch. He finally gave up after two minutes. "Okay, your right it won't budge."

She smiled and soon they were both pushing against the door with all their might. Eventually the door began opening ever so slowly and then with a final loud creak it opened. They both gasped in relief, "I usually don't do that with my bare hands," said Jessie, wiping the sweat from her face, "Usually my master uses her ability her ability to get it open."

Seth nodded, "That would be a hell of a lot easier."

She laughed and Seth looked around the room and his eyes grew wide. It was the largest library he had ever seen. Imagine a hundred foot high room with shelves of books upon books covering all the walls. There were so many books that they couldn't even fit them on all the shelves. Books were strewn on the windowsills, the tables and on the large velvet reading chairs. There had to be every kind of book imaginable.

The ceiling of the library was made out of crystallized glass with golden swirly designs. Large windows farther up on the walls let dapples of golden sunlight shine into the room. Red velvet curtains were hung by the windows with sewn pictures of flowers of all different colors. There were also about five large tables in the room and what looked to be ten smaller tables. They had hand carved designs of animals and inlaid in the wood were pieces of white marble to resemble flowers. There were also many large velvet reading chairs and two large couches mostly filled with books. The book shelves were the most amazing though. Along the sides of them were pieces of solid gold and purple, white and black marble. They resembled Latin runes from long ago.

Seth looked at all this in amazement and just stood there gawking for a few minutes, until he felt a tap on his shoulder. "Are you alright," said Jessie.

He shook himself out of his reverie and nodded, "Oh….yeah. It's just…I've never seem so many books before."

She laughed and gestured toward the books, "Take a look around. You can stay here all day if you want."

He didn't need to be told twice and almost ran toward the bookshelves. There were long ladders leading up to the far corners of the room, but he first wanted to check out the books on the lower shelves. After a few minutes he began to notice that the books were organized in order by subject in the far right of the room. On the left of the room the books weren't organized at all and just seemed to be in a random order. He decided to mostly hang out in the section of books that were organized by subject. He found books on philosophy, magic, history from what seemed to be trillions of years ago, creatures he had never even heard of before, books in a variety of different languages and so much more. He was opening a dusty book of weird creatures when Jessie came over to him with gigantic book in her hand. "I thought you might like this," she said.

She gave him the book and he looked at the title; MUSIC. He looked at her in surprise, "How did you know that I love music."

She smiled secretively and flipped back her hair, "It's my ability, I can sense what people want and care about the most. If I touch them I can even feel their feelings. Right now, I can sense that you miss your family and your guitar. You also miss your friends and hate your father with almost all your heart. I know that you have never been in love and don't exactly want to be. I know you care about Ivy and scorn me. Seth, I know almost everything about you."

He almost dropped the book he was holding and he felt his face pale. "That's invading my privacy!" he said angrily, "You had no right."

She looked at him calmly, "I can't control what my ability does, Seth. Sorry."

He sighed, his anger suddenly spent, "You're right, I'm sorry."

He then flipped the pages of the MUSIC book. He saw it explained many things about music and he became a little interested by it. He sat down in the large comfortable chair and began reading. He barely noticed how drawn he was to the book and the pages of it flew by fast. He was almost halfway through the book when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked up to see Jessie. "Um, Seth, it's five hours till you have to go to your master. I think that you should probably go to bed."

He ran a hand through his now lengthening hair. He needed a haircut. "Have I been reading that long?"

She laughed suddenly. "What's so funny," he said confused.

She smiled, "Oh nothing. If I told you, you would most probably slap me in the face."

He stood up from the chair, "I swear on my dead sister's body that I won't slap you on the face if you tell me what you're laughing about."

She let out another laugh, "That's a deep swear and I'll hold you to it. Well I was just laughing because……you know that you're really, really cute, right?"

He suddenly had a terrible feeling of what she was going to say next. "I've been told many things about my stupid appearance," he said coldly.

She smiled wider, "Well, when you ran your hand though your hair. You looked like a dark angel. It looked so funny, because, personally guys don't get _that_ cute. And then I was thinking about Ivy. I feel so bad for her because she just can't resist you. You see, you should be lucky _I _have a sense of control around you. Ivy, on the other hand, is like most girls. She'll slobber all over you whenever she'll get the chance."

It was too bad he had just sworn not to _slap_ her, but he didn't swear not to punch her. "Well," he said getting ready for the punch, "that's nice to know." He then took a swipe at her. She ducked quickly and his fist met midair.

She smiled, her bright smile again, "You can't fight me, Seth. Remember I can sense what you want the most?"

He looked at her angrily, "I hate you."

She pushed back her hair again, "Well I don't hate you. Actually you're sort of fun. But trust me; you won't hate me for long. In time you're going to be grateful for me. Now, I'll take you to your room. Oh, and you won't ever have time to finish that book again, just so you know."

He watched as she walked out the door. Reluctantly, he followed her; wondering what she meant when she said he'd be grateful for her.

Chapter 32

He woke up the next day to a slap to the face. He sat bolt upright, expecting to feel a wave of pain from James, only to see Jessie standing over him with some clothes in her hand. "Wake up, sleepy head. Time for training."

He glared at her and snatched the clothes from her hands, "What the hell was the slap for?"

She shrugged, "It woke you up."

He bit his lip from saying retort to this and looked out the window. It was still pitch black out and he could see many tiny gleaming stars in the night. Not a single dawn streak was to be seen. He looked at the time on the mantel piece. 3:00 A.M.! He suppressed a moan, exhaustion was spreading into his limbs and he wanted to lay his head back on the soft pillow. "Isn't it a little early to wake up," he grumbled.

She shook her head, her eyes wide awake, "This is the time you always have to be up."

He sighed and stood up, taking the clothes with him. He went into the bathroom and quickly changed into the light brown pants and black t-shirt. He then ran his hand through his hair to make it look decent. When he came out Jessie threw him an apple. "Breakfast," she said, "Eat it on the way there."

He nodded, looking at the shiny gleam of red of the apple in the dark. He bit into it, glad for a little food and followed Jessie out the door. They didn't walk that far before he saw his master leaning against the wall. A long dark cloak covered his face and body and you could see the distant gleam of his eyes beneath it. He walked over to them and then gestured for Jessie to leave. She bowed and without a word, left the hall. His master seemed to be studying him and Seth stood there awkwardly. He then raised his hand to Seth's head and touched it lightly. Immediately what felt like a dozen knives seemed to be carving into his brain. He screamed and collapsed to the floor, squeezing his head in agony. His master watched him calmly for a few minutes and then it was over. He gasped and stood up, his legs shaking and then he vomited all that was in his stomach. When he was done he moved away from the terrible smell of the vomit and looked at his master. A terrible taste was in his mouth now and he felt the urge to gag. He watched as his master waved a hand over the throw up and it disappeared. He then went over to him holding a flask that he hoped was water. "That had to be done," he said coolly, handing him the flask.

He took it, "What did….you just do," he said weakly.

"I cured you."

Seth opened the flask and saw water. He quickly poured some in his mouth and spat, trying to get the terrible taste out of his mouth. When his mouth tasted like a mouth should he said, "What do you mean you cured me?"

His master took something else out of his pocket and saw it was another flask. "James took your copycat ability away. I merely gave it back. There is no non painful way to do it so I decided to just let you get it over with. Now here, drink this. It'll make feel better."

He obediently took the flask and drank it. It didn't taste too terrible, but it wasn't a pleasant taste either. Immediately he began to feel strength seep into his bones. Also his vision began to feel clearer. It was like a veil had been over his eyes and it had just been lifted. He felt a sudden wave of happiness pass through him; he had his copycat power back! "Feeling better," he asked.

Seth nodded, "Thank you, master."

His master nodded, "Now you'll learn faster. Let us begin. First we're going to go for a little jog. Get familiar with this place."

Seth nodded and followed his master to the outside doors. It was beautiful out and cool. A soft wind blew through the branches of the trees farther ahead and the beginning light of dawn was beginning to light up the sky. He took a deep breath of the fresh air and watched as his master took off his long cloak. It fell to the ground with a slight rustle. He saw that his master was wearing a t-shirt also. His long, bare arms shown with hardened muscle. He had a feeling that this wasn't going to be a pleasant jog. "You ready, Seth?" he asked him.

He nodded and they went off. His master was fast, very fast and after just a few minutes he was panting to catch up. He also knew that he was in bad shape. Before, when he was at SATS, this probably would have been a ton easier. Now it was like trying to keep up with a speeding car. It was lucky he had his copycat ability back, because otherwise he probably would have been close to fainting. His master also ran like James did, going faster whenever he caught up. It got really annoying after a while and exhausting. To try to ignore the pain in his legs he tried to look around where they were going. They were running on some sort of dirt trail that led into a coniferous forest. It was beautiful with the rising sun just beginning to shed its light above the trees in bands of red and gold. Birds sang in the dark branches and the occasionally a large animal that he couldn't quite recognize would pass by. He soon began wondering where in the world he was.

After they had been running for what he guessed an hour and a half his master stopped. He gasped in relief and put his hands on his knees, trying to get his breath back. His throat felt raw and he was a little thirsty, but he could handle without water. He wondered how many miles they had run. "Rest," his master ordered him.

He nodded and gulped air greedily. His limbs felt like lead and his brain was swimming. He looked at his master; he didn't even look slightly winded. In fact it looked like he had just been going on a pleasurable walk. He was watching him and then gestured for him to stand upright, "Up, enough rest. Let's continue."

Seth, unwillingly, stood up and they went on their way again. This time it was harder, mainly because he was tired. The sun was soon up and fully bright and he guessed it was almost nine. That meant he had been running close to five hours. They eventually stopped in a meadow and he was close to fainting. He collapsed to the ground and lay on his back, gasping for air as if he had been almost drowned. His master, on the other hand, had gone over to a tree and ripped two branches off of it. He scraped the leaves and extra bark off of them and came over to him. By this time he began to breathe like a normal person, but the last thing he wanted to do was stand back up, but it didn't look like he had much of a choice. He sat up and his master threw him a stick. He weakly caught it and his master nodded for him to stand up. He bit his lip to keep from groaning and did as he was told.

"As you have probably guessed," his master said, "We are going to fence. This is an important art even though people are mostly using guns these days. Since you're a copycat I'm hoping we can get far today."

Seth looked at the stick in his hand and swayed a little on his feet from fatigue, "I don't think I can get that far today, master, the running has really-."

His master waved his hand and he collapsed to the floor in an icy pain. His mouth opened in a silent scream and his body felt suddenly like it was frozen and on fire at the same time. His master knelt by him, "Another rule I suggest you keep in mind. Don't say you can't do things. You will do what is expected of you, understand?"

He then waved his hand again and Seth could move again. He let out a gasp and weakly nodded, "Yes, master."

"Good, now get up and let's start."

Seth obediently stood up and held the stick in his hand. His body was still in shock from the icy torture and it shook a little. His master didn't seem to care and sent his stick flying toward his head. Seth quickly ducked and the stick landed hard against his leg. He quickly brought his stick up and tried to swipe at him, but his master was so fast and already landed a blow to his back. He fell and swiftly did a somersault and stood back up. "Move your feet, boy," he said, "It's not just about the stick in your hand."

Seth took another swipe at him and was immediately blocked and hit in the chest. He groaned and struggled to land a blow on his master. But it was impossible; every time he copycatted, his master did even more advanced moves. He soon became so tired he could barely lift the five pound stick and was just slashing at his master, hoping he could land a blow. But every time he tried, he would get a bruise somewhere on his body. Sweat dripped from his forehead and into his eyes, which didn't help and made his eyes water.

Eventually, after what seemed like forever, they stopped. He fell to the ground almost immediately and barely moved. His master smiled at him, looking as calm as ever. "Good job, Seth. For a person that isn't even one hundred, I'm impressed. Here," he said, saying a few words in a language he didn't understand. Out of thin air appeared a bottle of water and he threw it at him. He was so weak that he missed the catch and had to force himself to crawl over to the water bottle. Once there he drank it greedily until there was not one drop left. His master then gave him some bread and fruit. He took it gratefully and bit a chunk out of the bread. He didn't realize how hungry he was and the food was quickly devoured.

When he was done he looked at his master waiting for what he wanted him to do next. "Just rest for a little bit, then we'll run back," he said.

Oh God, he thought, just great, he had to run back too. He would never make that trip without basically dying. "Master," he asked, "how many miles did we run getting here?"

His master smiled at him, "Oh, about forty-five miles."

His eyes widened, "Forty-five miles!!" he said in disbelief, "Ninety miles in all and that's if……" he stopped remembering his master's rule.

"Get up, it looks like you've rested enough if you can talk," said his master coolly.

Seth sat up slowly and almost immediately wanted to fall on his back again. It took almost all his will to get himself on his feet, but he managed. Without warning his master started running again, or more like sprinting. He took a deep breath and followed him. He was soon so far behind that his master was like a tiny figure ahead of him.

Before long he could run no more and his legs buckled beneath him. He tried not to faint, but it was hard not to. He then felt something liquid and cold forced down his throat. He looked through the haze of exhaustion at the blurry form of his master. He was holding some water and pouring a little at a time down his throat. He coughed and moaned, he didn't feel good at all. "Just take a rest, boy. You'll be fine in a few minutes," his master said gently.

He didn't know how he'd be fine in a few minutes, but he let his master continue pouring water down his throat. When the water was done, he was pulled up and was so weak he had to lean on his master. "We only have eighteen miles left, Seth," he said, "You will make it. But just in case, I'll let you drink this power drink. It'll give you some energy."

He nodded feebly and his master gave him the bottle. He opened the cap and forced it down his throat. It tasted disgusting, but he was so tired that he barely noticed. Almost instantly he felt a wave of pure energy flow through him. He stood up straight and nodded to his master, "I'm ready now."

They then continued and he was so grateful for the drink that his master had given him because he probably would have not have made it even close to their destination. When Seth saw the castle he felt a new kind of energy flow through him, relief. When they came to the entrance doors they stopped. He was breathing so hard that he felt his lungs might burst and his legs were shaking uncontrollably. His master, like usual, didn't even look slightly tired and the huge wooden doors opened at his signal. "Come, boy, we're just going to be walking now."

Seth nodded and stood up, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He was glad his master was walking slowly to wherever they were going, because it took all his will to move every step. People past them in the halls and would bow to his master and continue on their way. One of the people, the shape shifter woman, stopped to talk. By her side, to his surprise, was Jessie. Was this woman her master? "Leader," she said bowing, "We have a little problem. But I would like to talk in private. It's urgent and we need to take the necessary precautions."

His master sighed, "This better be important because, as you can see, I'm in the middle of training."

The woman bowed again, "It is."

He nodded, "Seth, stay here until I come back. This should only take a moment." They then left, but Jessie stayed with him. When they had gone from his sight he collapsed to the floor and laid his head against the wall. He wanted to close his eyes and fall into a nice relaxing sleep, but he forced himself to stay awake.

"You look exhausted," Jessie commented.

"Shut up," he said tiredly.

She put her hands up, "Sorry crabby head. I told you it would be hard, but it's not like you ever believe me. But you really do look like crap."

He tried to ignore her, but his eyelids felt so heavy as if they weighed ten tons. Maybe talking would keep him awake. "So is that woman your master?"

She nodded, "Yep, isn't that kind of obvious? You really are tired, but I'm sorry to say that training stops at midnight….for me that is. For you, I would guess one thirty or twoin the morning.

He let out a groan, "Two in the morning and then I have to wake up at three! I'm going to die."

She smiled and flipped back her hair, "Sorry I had to tell you that. So what did you do this morning? Run five hundred miles?"

Before he could answer, their master's came. His master looked extremely angry and gestured for him to come over to him. He forced himself to stand and went over to him. He was immediately slapped hard across the face. He fell to the ground in surprise. His face stung from the slap and he heard the woman gasp in surprise, "Stop it! What are you doing? It isn't his fault. We'll send our best hunters and they'll find him."

His master laughed scornfully, "We won't need to look for him, he'll come back to get him."

Seth struggled to get up, "What are you….talking about."

His master smiled coldly at him, "Your father escaped yesterday taking his lover with him. In other words, your mother helped him escape. Now we have a killer on the loose."

He gasped in surprise, "NO! But y-you said that once the council sentences someone they are forced-."

"Yes, boy, I did say that and it's true," said his master menacingly, "We don't know how he escaped, but once we have him again. I hope we can figure that out. Now because of this unfortunate event you'll be staying in my office until we sort this out."

"Leader," said Jessie suddenly, "I'll stay by him. You send your warriors to guard the door and I'll be right by him just in case, while you do your thing. If you want, of course."

His master looked at her, as if wondering if she should do it, then nodded, "That might be good. And Marian," he said to the woman, "You stay with me and I want all shields up at once. I want no way he can get into here without getting caught."

Marian nodded, "Of course, they are already up and every warrior is on duty. If he tries to get in he will most definitely be caught."

His master nodded and then grabbed a fist full of Seth's hair and pulled him up. He cried out and he could see Marian looking at this disapprovingly. "You will stay in my office until he's caught. No funny business."

Seth nodded, weakly and he dropped him. He coughed and forced himself to his feet, shakily. "I'll take him to your office, my lord," said Jessie.

His master waved them off, "Go, I need to think."

He then felt a gentle hand take his hand and he looked at Jessie. A look of urgency was on her face and he obediently let her lead him to his office. When they were out of sight of their masters she stopped. "Lean on me, you're looking a little pale," she said kindly.

He leaned on her in relief and they walked very slowly. "Are you sure you're fine with this," he asked her.

She smiled and nodded, "As much as you don't think it. I'm strong and no offence, but as tall as you are you weigh barely anything of what you're supposed to."

"Thanks," he said sarcastically.

"Your welcome," she said, "At least I'm honest."

They then walked in silence until they came to the office. Four warriors were guarding the door and they looked at them with serious eyes. They were all in long black cloaks and large belts around their waists held a few guns, daggers and even a sword. They let them into the office and Jessie closed the door. He watched her and something stirred inside of him, it was then he saw a name tag with his name on it. He went over to it and saw that it was hooked to a large package. He tore the tag off and saw there was writing on the back. It said:

Dear Seth,

Happy Birthday! You're fifty-seven years old.

From when we were talking I know that you'll love the present I got you.

I love you!

Lizzie

It was his birthday today? "Jessie," he asked, "What's the date today?"

She was looking at him weirdly, "Um, it's December 31st. Why?"

"What country are we in," he said ignoring her question. Usually December 31st was cold.

"We're in South Africa; now tell me why you want to know?"

He continued ignoring her and tore at the dark blue wrapping paper. In it was a black guitar case. He hesitated, a blur of emotions filling him. She knew he loved this. His hands shook as he unbuckled the guitar case and opened it. In it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. It was a black electric guitar that had a silver inlaid dragon along the side of it. He just stared at it for a moment when Jessie came over. "So are you going to take it out? My ability is going in a wiz with your wanting it."

He nodded and very carefully took it out and strummed it. It rang with notes that he had missed for so long. He soon began to play a song that he used to when he was a rock star. It was slow, but beautiful and soon it was only him and the guitar that was playing. It was like second nature where his hands strummed and he felt like he was flying through the music. He soon began to add more of his own touches to the song and then he was in the music. Moving with it, being it. When it was over it took a few minutes to come back to himself and he saw Jessie staring at him in shock. "Seth," she said softly, "That was beautiful. The most beautiful thing I've ever heard in my life. Are there words to it and oh please do it again."

He smiled at her, "There is, I'll sing them if you want."

"Please," she said, her eyes a sparkling blue and pleading. A feeling stirred inside of him and he felt his hand start to play and then he sang. He felt his voice and the guitar merge into one and his fingers moved of their own accord. He made the song go longer than necessary and the last note rang into silence.

They both said nothing for a few minutes, when Jessie broke the silence, "You have the most beautiful voice I've ever heard. Someone that talented doesn't deserve to be apprenticed to the leader. A person that talented deserves to be….I don't know."

He shrugged, "All I want is-."

It was then the door exploded in a shatter of wood. He pushed Jessie to the floor and put his hands over his head. Wood flew everywhere and he felt some of them scrape his skin. He looked up and saw James. He looked terrible, numerous scrapes were on his face and he looked about to fall down from exhaustion. The other figure in the doorway was his master, or in this case, the leader. He looked furious and sent an arc of green fire toward James. He was flown backwards and bashed into the wall. He heard a groan and James fell to the ground, only to get back up again and sent a wave of white light toward the leader. The leader quickly put up a shield and it slid around him harmlessly. "You can't hope to beat me, James. Give up, don't you want to die. I thought that is what you wanted."

James coughed and spat out blood. "I know….I can't beat you," he said weakly, "But at least I can try. I thought you didn't want to kill me anyway. Did you change your mind when I escaped?"

The leader smiled and sent another arc of green fire at him. James tried to put up a shield, but he was too slow and the fire hit him straight in the chest. He gasped and flew backwards again into the wall. He didn't get up this time and the leader walked over to him. "Actually, I was going to use you as a puppet. All I needed was to attach the strings and you would be mine. You know this magic. You wouldn't even know yourself anymore."

Seth looked at Jessie and saw a large piece of wood had stuck into her shoulder. It was bleeding badly, but she didn't seem to notice and was looking at the fight with large eyes. He then heard a painful gasp and James did a back flip and landed next to Seth. You could tell he was using all his energy to just stand. The leader looked at him calmly, "You've never learned how to teleport. If you tried you'd be risking your son's life as well as yours."

James laughed harshly, and coughed, touching Seth's shoulder. He moved away from his touch, not wishing to be with the evil murderer. James looked at him sadly and grabbed his shoulder with such strength and Seth grabbed Jessie's hand. She looked at him in surprise. "You underestimate me again, _leader_," said James, "I know how to teleport now."

The leader's eyes widened and said, "No!" But it was too late and soon they were all flying through blackness and hecouldn't breathe and felt his lungs fill with nothing. Just when he thought he was going to faint from lack of air they landed hard on dirt. He gasped for air and heard Jessie doing the same thing.

He went over to her and saw she was holding his guitar case with the guitar in it. She smiled at him, before she cried out in pain from her shoulder. He looked at her worriedly, when he saw James un-moving on the ground. A large wound was bleeding freely on his head and his black hair was a glob of a mess around him. Anger boiled inside of him and without thinking Seth went over to him and kicked him in the stomach over and over. He didn't move an inch and he wondered if he was dead. It was then he saw the slow rise and fall of his chest. Too bad he was still alive, he thought, maybe I should beat him to death. It was then he heard an angry voice.

"Seth! Stop it." He looked in the direction of the voice and saw his mother walking toward him. She looked furious; her eyes like green flame. "What are you doing to your father? He just saved you."

He glared at his mother, angry that he was treating him as if he had been her son for years. "You don't understand," he said, trying to keep his voice under control, "Do you know what this man had done? He has killed and tortured. There would be no better punishment for him but death."

His mother looked at him sadly, "I can't let you kill him. Please, let me deal with him. You need to rest; we have a little place here-."

"What about Jessie," he said pointing to her.

His mother seemed to notice her for the first time, "I'll help her. I know much about healing. But what I want you to do is carry her to our little camp and take out the stick. Wash the wound with cool water and bind it with some bandages. We have some, don't worry….. I need to deal with….James. He is suffering major physical and mental exhaustion. I told him not to get you yet. That I had just rescued him from the dungeons, but he wouldn't listen."

By this time, he was getting really annoyed with Lizzie of how much he was caring about James. He ignored her babbling and knelt by Lizzie. A large blotch of red was spreading across her shirt and she looked really pale. He started to pick her up when she said, "I can….walk. I don't need your….help," she said weakly.

He rolled his eyes, and picked her up, "As much as you don't think it," he said quoting her words, "I'm strong, even though I'm a skinny stick; I still have a little muscle on these bones."

She smiled and he carried her in the direction that Lizzie had come from. Wherever they were, it was a very dry land. It looked a lot like a desert, with its rough rocky cliffs and prickly plants. The sun was setting over far away mountains making everything glow orange. It was cool, not too hot, but it wasn't a place he wanted to live in. He had always liked the forest and even missed the city.

Jessie was light and he soon came to the supposed camp. There was a small campfire that looked like it badly needed more fuel and a few blankets lying around it. Not exactly what you would call a camp. He laid Jessie on one of the blankets and looked at her in the eyes. "This is going to hurt," he told her.

She nodded, "I know, just…..get it over with."

Seth nodded and took a deep breath. He grabbed the stick that was stuck in her shoulder and very carefully pulled it out. She cried out and the blood came out in torrents all over her chest. He realized there was no water to clean the wound. He looked around desperately when he saw, to his relief, a bottle lying by the fire. He quickly grabbed it and came back over to Jessie. She was losing consciousness fast and the blood kept flowing rapidly. He quickly poured the water over the wound to clean it and then tore a part of his short to make a bandage. He smoothly bound the part of his shirt tightly around her shoulder and let out a breath in relief. He had done everything that he could.

He looked at her face and saw she had already lost consciousness. Worry came through him. Would she die? No she couldn't, it was just a shoulder wound. She would live…..hopefully. It was then he heard soft footsteps. He turned around and saw Lizzie was carrying James. She set him down gently on another blanket and smoothed the hair out of his face. She sat there, just staring at him for a few minutes, before she came over to him. "Is she going to be alright," he asked worriedly.

Lizzie knelt down next to her and inspected her bandage, heart beat and breathing. Throughout this process, he became more and more anxious for her life. She finally stood up and smiled at him reassuringly, "She'll be just fine. Don't worry."

Seth sagged in relief, feeling how tired he was. "Get some rest," she continued, "You look exhausted."

He smiled, "That sounds really good right now. But are you sure she'll be alright?"

"Yes, Seth, now get some rest. Please, I'm a little worried about you."

He nodded and did as he was told. He went over to one of the blankets and the instant he laid his head down, he was asleep.

He was woken up from his nightmare by his mother. She was looking at him anxiously, "You were screaming in you sleep."

He sat up and wiped the cold sweat from his face, "I tend to do that a lot now these days. Thanks to my father."

She looked down, and entwined her hands together, "I know that James……has done terrible things. He will do them no more. If he does……he will regret it."

Seth shivered as a sudden burst of cold air blew through him. "What are you going to do to him that'll make him regret it? You don't understand he _loves_ killing. It's his favorite pastime. You can't change that part of him now. The James you thought you knew is no more. Why can't you just accept that? He's killed innocent children and not just my sister. He's killed most of SATS people. HOW CAN YOU LOVE A MAN LIKE THAT!!!" He felt his anger going out of control, but he didn't care. She needed to understand who James was.

"Lizzie," said a familiar voice, "Let me deal with this."

Seth looked behind her and saw James. He looked better than yesterday, but still had an exhausted look in his eyes. "He won't listen to you," said Lizzie.

James nodded, "I know. I just want to talk with him."

Seth then stood up quickly, "NO! Get away from me you monster! You just convinced Lizzie that you're still a good person. But you're not, you can't change the things that you've done just because she's alive. You're a murderer and I don't want you speaking to me. Of course you can force me to, right. That's what you do." And with those words, he walked out into the darkness. He felt like running, fast and far until he could run no more, but that would look like he was a coward. Why couldn't Lizzie understand? He was obviously just pretending and even if he wasn't. Did he think he could just say everything was alright again? Not after everything what he had done.

He walked briskly away, but didn't get far before he saw James's figure in front of him. "I told you to get away from me!" he said heatedly.

James didn't move and stepped toward him, "Seth, just listen to me for two minutes of your time. That's all I want and then you don't have to speak to me again."

Seth turned away from him and walked the other way. He felt a hand grab his shoulder and force him to turn around, "If I have to force you, I will," said James darkly. His eyes were so black, as they stared at him; it was like looking into a bottomless pit. But something had changed inside of them that he couldn't quite place.

"Go ahead," he said coldly, "Force me to listen to your stupid lies."

James's eyes then filled with pain, and he let go of his shoulder and collapsed to the ground on his knees. "It's hard not to use my ability, I'm sorry……I'm sorry for everything. Everything that I've done, everything that I am. I won't deny that I still don't feel the urge to kill. I won't deny what I've done. I've sworn in the old language not to use my ability again, and that is binding. I've also sworn that I'd serve my family and anyone that is in need of help. I've sworn everything last night. So I can't force you to do anything anymore and anything you ask I will do."

Seth looked at him stonily, it was weird seeing James so transformed. The way he was on his knees as if he was begging. The other James wouldn't have done that. The other James would have forced him to the floor and made him beg. "If you will do anything that I ask you to do," he said unemotionally, "Then go kill yourself,"

James looked at the floor and shook his head, "Can't, your mother beat you to it. She said I wasn't allowed to kill myself or torture myself physically."

He glared at him, "We are done talking then." He walked away from him and went back to the camp. He saw that the sun was just beginning to rise, so there was no use of going back to sleep. He looked on the blanket where Jessie was and saw she was up and looking at the sunrise. He went over to her, "How are you feeling?"

She smiled her usual cunning smile and gestured for him to sit next to her, "I'm fine, thank you. But how about you, you look like you want to kill a lion."

He sat down next to her, "I'm okay, a little pissed that James isn't dead yet."

She nodded, "I would be too. By the way, I was just talking to your mom earlier. She said we're going to start traveling through this desert. Since James sworn no to use his ability again, we can't teleport. So we're walking on foot. She said there's a well not too far from here that could supply us with some horses, or if we're lucky, camels. Then it's just open desert from there."

Seth looked at her face, she was trying to hide that there was pain in her shoulder. But she was looking at him with her large sparkling blue eyes. A warm feeling stirred in him again and she laughed. "What," he asked.

"It's just, I can feel what you want, you know. And what you want now makes me feel good."

He felt his face turn red, "What is it right now that I want?"

She smiled wider, "When you first came over here, you wanted to kill James. Now….you want to kiss me. I guess you aren't that different from the other boys after all."

With these words he leaned in and their lips touched. Soon they were kissing each other and it was the best feeling in Seth's life. He felt her hand curl in his hair and he felt his in the crook of her back. He had kissed a lot of girls when he had been a rock star, but nothing like this. This kiss made him feel warm and tender, not the kisses that he felt was necessary to do. This kiss he actually wanted. Too soon they pulled apart and they both were breathless. Jessie's face was red from it and she lay her head on his chest, "You're a good kisser."

He smiled, "I've had a lot of practice and you're not too bad yourself."

She giggled, "I've had some practice also, but to tell you the truth, that was the best kiss I've ever had."

His face suddenly became serious, "It was mine too."

She relaxed at these words, before her head bolted up in alarm. "I hope your mom is okay with us kissing, cause she's staring at us."

He turned around and saw Jessie was right. She was staring at them; her long golden hair glowing like fire in the early morning rays. She didn't look angry, in fact, her face was a little sad. He stood up and Jessie did also. "I'm going to go talk to her," he said.

She nodded, "Go, I'll just be here."

He nodded and went over to her and a forced smile was on her face. Her eyes shown with worry over something. "Hey, Seth."

"Hi..…is there something wrong?"

She shook her head, but he wasn't fooled, "No, I sent James to get some horses or camels. He should be here in any minute. He's fast. But….just take off your shirt."

Now he was really confused, "Did I just hear that you wanted me to take off my shirt?"

She nodded, "Just do it Seth, please. I need to see something."

He sighed and pulled his dirty, bloody shirt over his head. Lizzie's face darkened as she looked at his naked torso. "Did he do this to you," she said pointing to the long scar that extended from his shoulder to his wrist. It glowed faintly red because it was the scar that James had made with the torture dagger.

"Yes, it was one of my punishments for escaping. He tends to do stuff like that a lot."

Her face was suddenly furious, "How dare he! To his own son too. And I'm guessing all these bullet scars and such are his cause too?"

He nodded, "Yes." It was then he saw James come over with four camels. All four of them were loaded with various bags that he guessed were filled with food, water and clothing. James, on the other hand, was coated from head to toe in dust. He was leading the camels from their halters and he looked exhausted as he came over to the camp.

"Managed to find some camels," he said tiredly.

Lizzie glared at him, "Come here, James," she ordered.

He came over, still holding the camels. He then let go of the halters and stood in front of her. "Yes?"

She then slapped him hard across the face. It sounded like it hurt, but who knew what hurt James. "How could you do that to him? To our own son, James!! You treated him as if he was a piece of meat. I HATE YOU!"

James looked confused at first then looked at Seth and his face paled. "Lizzie-."

"Don't talk to me, let me talk first. I think I'm finally beginning to understand how terrible you are. You're horrible; I should have known a bastard like you would do this. But you used that dagger on our son. That's worse than death and he's powerful. You destroyed him. I hate you; I hate you, I…."

She stopped, tears flowing down her face and leaned into him and began kissing him. It lasted a minute before she pulled away. "I didn't deserve that," said James miserably.

She shook her head, "That kiss wasn't for you, it was for me. I hate you that you cause these feelings inside of me. I should kill you, but I can't. I hate you, but…..I love you."

Seth stopped listening to the scene anymore and pulled his shirt back on and went over to Jessie. She was looking at them in amazement. "Your parents are really in love, Seth. I can feel their want for each other. Your father is especially crazy, he wants to……well, yeah."

He smiled slightly at this, "You want to go check out the camels. I've never road one before."

She nodded, "Yeah, sure, I haven't rode one either." They went over to the animals two of them were white and two of them were a light brown. Seth chose a brown one and tried to figure out how to get on. There was no stirrup or anything, so he was confused. It was then that James came over. He had an amused look on his face. "Ebrek!!" he yelled to the camels. The camels immediately followed the order and sat down with their legs tucked underneath them.

Oh, he thought, that's how you do it. James gestured for them to get on and they did as they were told. He lifted his leg over the saddle and sat comfortably on top of it. The camel stank, but it was a stink he could deal with. He watched as Jessie did the same thing, with almost perfect smoothness, as if she did this all the time. Lizzie then came over and climbed on skillfully. Lastly James jumped on, and you could obviously tell that he was an expert at camel riding. He made a sort of clucking sound and his camel stood up. Seth copied the sound and his camel stood up also. Seth held onto the pummel of the saddle, just to make sure he didn't fall off. Everyone else did the same thing and they were all comfortable sitting on top of the camel.

"It's obvious you two have never road camels before," James said in a solemn voice, "The first thing you need to know is to be gentle with the camel and let it eat when it wants, unless we have to move with urgency. They don't need drink for days, so you don't have to worry about that. You steer the camel by the harness and you make it go faster by slapping it with the stick in the back of your saddle bags. You make it go slower by pulling back on the harness and you stop the camel by saying, Waggef. You got it?"

Seth said nothing to him, not wanting to even nod to him. Jessie nodded though and took the stick that was sticking out of her saddle bags. He took out the stick too and wacked it on the camels hindquarters. Immediately the camel started walking forward at a slow pace. It was bumpy, but he was used to riding horses, so he was used to it. He heard slaps behind him and James's camel came trotting on front of him. "Let me lead the way, I know exactly where we are going."

He didn't know how anybody knew where they were going in this featureless landscape. It was all just sand and dust with a few spiky plants here and there, but then again, this was James. The camels went on a nice steady walk through the desert and for a few hours there was only the jingle of harnesses and the pat of camel feet on the desert floor. But as it became later in the day, it started to get really hot. The sun was beating down hard on their skin and he was wearing short sleeves, which he knew was not good desert clothes. Sweat was soon dripping down his face and he continuously wiped it away. He looked at James, and saw he looked perfectly cool. Lucky, he thought. He wondered why his body wasn't copycatting it, he wished it would. He looked at Jessie and saw she looked as hot as him and her face was badly sunburned. Thirst soon took hold of him and he looked around the saddle bags around him for water. He finally found some hot water in one of the packs and drank it out of the large container greedily. About an hour later Lizzie said, "James, we should stop. The kids are probably hungry."

He turned his camel around, "Right, I forgot. We'll stop here."

Relief at this came through him and he said, "Warref!!" for the camel to stop. It stopped and then he ordered him to sit down by saying, "Ebref!!" Jessie seemed to have forgotten the words for this and looked thankfully at him when he said them. When all the camels were down, he literally rolled off the camel and into the hot sand. It stuck to his face and clothing because of his sweat and he coughed as some of it went into his mouth. He stood up, dusting it off of him. He then looked in his saddle bags, but only found a pack of dates.

"Sorry, guys," said James, "That's all the food they had there." He sighed and bit into the dry fruit. It tasted good, but he'd rather have a more filling meal. When he'd eaten a few dates and drank a few sips of water, he looked again in the saddle bags for some better clothing. He found a light long sleeved shirt and a long white scarf. He took off his sweaty t-shirt and put on the other shirt and tied the scarf around his hair and face.

He looked at Jessie and smiled, "How do I look?"

She burst out laughing, "You look ridiculous. Do you have any idea how to tie a scarf around your head?"

He shrugged, "I thought I did."

He then felt a tap on his shoulder, and he turned around to see James staring at him. His smile disappeared. James said nothing and only untied the scarf around Seth's head. He then wrapped it back around Seth's head. "That looks better, doesn't it boy."

He only glared at James and walked away from him. "You should have left it on him," said Jessie, looking disappointed, "Now he actually looks like he comes from the desert."

"Somehow I don't like my son looking ridiculous," said James coldly.

She put her hands up, "Well, sorry," she said sarcastically. She then took out the scarf that was in her saddle bags and wrapped her scarf around her head.

Lizzie was looking sternly at James, "You have to spoil everyone's fun don't you."

James climbed back onto his camel, "As a matter of fact, that is what I do. Ever since you supposedly died. This is your fault, okay. So live with it."

She looked at him in disbelief, "_My _fault. How is it my fault, you were the one who went mad. Not me, at least I'm not a killer. At least I accepted the fact that I would never see you again. You never did. So don't say it was my fault."

James looked down, "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. Warn me……when I do that again, I just have these….. phases. Let's just keep going."

Her face softened, "It's going to take some time before you're fully healed."

He nodded and everyone climbed back onto their camels again and continued traveling. So Lizzie was trying to heal James from what he had become. He could never be fully healed, that she had to know, but she was trying.

They traveled until it was a few hours after dusk. Then they stopped and made camp. James pulled the prickly plants out of the desert floor as fire wood and Lizzie made the spark to light it. Soon they were all comfortable around the fire, when James announced he wanted to go for a little walk alone. Lizzie let him go and then it was just them three sitting around the fire.

"I brought your guitar, Seth," said Lizzie, "maybe you can play us a song."

"Um, okay, I'll get it from your camel." He went over to it and took the case out in between the bags. He was glad that she had brought it, it was like a drug of how much he wanted to play it. He came back over to the fire and pulled out the guitar. He was surprised to see it had taken no damage. He then strummed it, to make sure he didn't have to tune any of the strings. "What do you want me to play," he asked.

Lizzie smiled, "Give us a surprise."

He nodded and thought about all the list of songs to choose from. He finally found one that was called, Forgive Me. He began playing it and sang the words to the song. It was a beautiful song and one of his favorites. Again he added his own touches to the music and soared with the music. When the last note had ringed into silence, he looked up. Both of them were looking at him in admiration and he saw a dark figure behind them.

It was James.

He had a pained look on his face and turned his face away from him when he saw him staring at him. "That was beautiful," said Lizzie breathlessly.

Jessie nodded, "Like usual," she teased.

There was a pause of silence, before it was broken, "Play another one," said James darkly, "Please."

Seth stood up and shook his head, "No, and especially not for you."

"Seth, please…" said Lizzie.

He shook his head, "Do you think I want to play for him. The last time I did that he tortured me with that dagger because I didn't finish the song! Oh and right after that he killed my mother. Yes, the mother that took care of me, not my biological one. Do you think I want to play to someone like that? No, I really don't. You might love him because of the stupid feelings you have for him. But I don't understand how you could. You want me to relate to you what he's done?" Everyone just stared at him and he continued, "First he took me right after one of my concerts. Experimented on me, tortured me. I once tried to escape and he…..he killed Annie. How could he…..kill a girl like that? She was small, with blonde braids and a smile that always made me laugh. She was scared and I was…begging, begging him not to kill her. But as much as I begged he just took her from my…arms and shot her in the head. I can still remember the blood running down her face. I can still see her sightless eyes. I….." he stopped, feeling tears rush down his face.

Ashamed, he ran. He made it about a mile away before he totally broke down. The sobs that came from him surprised even him. But all he could think of was how he wanted James to die the most painful death. How he wanted to see Annie again and hold her in his arms. How he wanted everything like it used to be. After a few minutes, his sobs settled down and he was just staring out into the night. A few minutes later he heard soft footsteps behind him. He didn't even bother to turn around and Jessie came next to him. They sat in silence for a while before Jessie broke it, "I'm sorry."

He said nothing to this and then Jessie hugged him. "Oh god, Seth, what did he do to you? You're so depressed, but you still try to act normal. How can I help you?"

Seth felt tears come into his eyes again and was soon sobbing in her arms. She was comforting and warm and she understood. When all his tears were gone, they just sat with each other, enjoying each other's presence. "Did they send you over here," he asked her finally.

She shook her head, "I came over myself. They told me you needed some alone time, but I thought you might like some company. Sometimes it's not always good to be lonely."

He nodded, satisfied with this answer, before he stood up. "We better get back."

"If you want," she answered. She then grabbed his arm, "Seth, there's something I have to tell you. It's something that James and Lizzie were talking about last night and something I know. When you're apprenticed to the leader, there's no turning back. That means he knows exactly where you're at all times. Luckily he didn't get around to marking you that he is your apprentice. So luckily you aren't bound to it. But, let's just say, that the council is taking its time in capturing you and James. I know the council, when they take their time; they are up to something big. I've lived there….almost all my life. They are the lawmakers and if anybody dares break a law…..I've seen what they can do. Many people who were part of the council were criminals. I don't know where James is taking us, but it'll stand no chance against the council."

She was looking at him with fearful eyes and hopelessness clawed at his heart. "We……we just have to trust that wherever he is taking us has at least a small chance against the council."

She shook her head, "Seth, you're not allowed to be in love, remember. So……just in case." He then felt her lips against his and they kissed. It was a gentle kiss with a slight touch of tension in it and he hugged her tightly.

"Nothing is going to happen," he tried reassure her.

A forced smile was on her face, "Let's hope."

Chapter 33

They traveled for a week in the scorching desert and Seth didn't play his guitar once. Everyone was now badly sunburned except James, who was as cool as ever. They arrived in the bustling city of Riyadh at about midday. Riyadh was huge with towering skyscrapers and millions of cars zooming to and fro across the large roads. It looked a lot like any normal city would, except it was extremely hot, about 115 F.

Seth felt a little awkward going into this modern city with a camel, but luckily, James let them free into the desert before they went inside it. In the city, all the women were dressed in black and only their eyes could be seen. Jessie and Lizzie looked really out of place and people kept staring at them weirdly. They also all badly needed a shower because they were covered in sand and sweat. They probably looked like really dirty, scary people.

James led them, walking very fast, to a dirty old gray building. It was about ten stories high and more on the dirtier part of the city. Garbage was strewn across the streets and stray dogs passed by every once and a while. James knocked on the door and waited. About thirty seconds later the door opened to reveal a very burly man. Muscles coated his forearms and made his shirt tighten across his shoulders. "This hotel is temporarily out of…….James?"said the burly man in sudden surprise, "Is that you?"

"Yes, Mike, it is."

They clasped hands and James asked, "Do you have a gun I can borrow, right now."

"James," said Lizzie, "Where exactly are we? And what do you need a gun for?"

Seth was wondering the same thing and looked at Jessie, she was staring James suspiciously. "What do you need a gun for so soon, my man?" said Mike.

James rolled his eyes, "Just give me a gun."

Mike nodded and reached into his belt and pulled out a gun. "Here you go."

He immediately grabbed the gun and spun around so fast, he was just a blur, and shot the gun straight at Lizzie's head. Her face was a mask of surprise as the bullet tore through her head. She then collapsed to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Seth looked in horror as her mother died from James's bullet. No, no, no, no, he looked away from his mom's body and at James. He was smiling, actually smiling. Overcome with such anger, he threw himself at him, but he was nothing against the strength of James. He soon had his hands twisted behind his back in a painful position. "How could you!!!!" he screamed and struggled against James's grip, "How could you kill the woman you used to love?"

Mike was laughing, "You have a killer right there James, where'd you get him?"

James seemed to ignore Mike and smiled at him, "Listen to me for one second, Seth that is not your mother. Look at the body that I just shot." He then took him by his hair and forced him to look at his mother. Except it wasn't his mother, it was…….Marian, the shape shifter person and Jessie's master. Her long curly brown hair was soaked in blood and her face was covered in it. Seth stopped struggling and fell limp in James's arms in surprise.

"I knew from the moment she rescued me that she wasn't my sweet Lizzie," continued James, "It was all a set up, a trick. Everything that was showed to you, everything that you were told was a lie. The memories she showed you were fake, the whole trial that I was put on was just fake also. They were testing me, seeing what I would be like if I saw Lizzie come alive again. Every time I kissed that bitch, I thought I might throw up. But I managed to look like I was in love again. You see, Seth, I'm a good actor, and I can act sane when I want to. She fell right into it. But unfortunately, the part that is true is that the leader wants you as his apprentice. And everything started to go wrong when I wanted to rescue you from the council. It wasn't part of their plan. So they thought they would just capture me again while I tried to rescue you, but they don't know much about me, they didn't know I had studied teleporting. So the leader sent the fake Lizzie to travel with me and figure out more about me, but little did they know that I knew everything. So now she's dead and the council will be here any minute.....Mike," he said gesturing toward him.

"Yes," he said, "Well that's just great James. The council is coming here. Everybody is downstairs eating now and I don't think they're in the mood for fighting now. Especially fighting the council people."

James rolled his eyes, "I don't care if their eating or not. Get these kids downstairs and get the criminals up here, ready to fight."

Mike sighed, and James threw Seth at him. Mike caught him as if he barely weighed anything and grabbed Jessie by the collar of her shirt. She screamed and struggled from his grip, but her attempts were useless. Seth didn't even bother struggling and let Mike carry him in the building. They went down many steps and entered a hall. It was a large hall with many tables that sat people who were eating, drinking and laughing. It was dirty and bits of food were everywhere and cobwebs hung on the corners of the ceiling. Mike set them down on the floor and let out a yell. The hall immediately became quiet. "We have a problem," Mike said loudly, "James is at the door, bringing news that the council is coming with its best warriors. He has asked that everyone stop eating and get ready to fight immediately."

Everyone groaned and a tall man stood up, his greasy black hair hung down limply in front of his face and he was holding a piece of bread, "The council?" he said in a gruff voice, "You must be joking, we're all criminals here. We've all broken laws; we'll stand no chance against the council. Sure were good fighters, but they have their ways."

Mike glared at the man, "Yes, it's true, we have a slim chance, but most of us are better fighters than those scums!! They only use trickery to win. Besides what choice do we have? We can't just hide down here. The council will be here in a few minutes. So get your butts moving!!"

Everyone looked grumpy as they got up from the tables; he had to guess that there were about a hundred people in all and were making their way toward where they had just came in. He looked around for Jessie, and saw she was trying to escape. Mike noticed this and quickly grabbed Seth by the collar of the shirt and ran toward Jessie. Jessie was fast, but Mike's weight lifting or whatever he did made him faster. He quickly caught Lizzie and slapped her across the face. "No escaping, missy, sorry. Oh, and don't try to do that again, you won't get that far."

Jessie looked at the ground, she looked mad and…..scared. He wanted to comfort her, but right now that was sort of impossible.

Mike then carried them down the food hall and down more stairs. The farther they went, the more it smelled of old garbage and filth. When the stairs finally ended, he saw many old wooden doors that were falling apart. Mike picked one of the better ones and opened it. In it was a high ceiling with a barred window at the top that let some light in, but other than that it was just stone ground. Mike threw them in and smiled in the doorway. "You better hope that we win this battle. Otherwise you guys might just starve to death down here. See ya!" Seth quickly stood up and ran toward the door, but Mike closed it and he ended up ramming into the door.

It hurt a lot.

He let out a yell of frustration and tried the handle of the door. Of course it was locked. He then battered his fists against the door, just somehow hoping it would break down. When his fists were splintered and bleeding, he stopped and slid to the floor. Jessie was looking at him calmly, and he looked away from her. "Seth," she said softly, "I'm sorry. I should have known that was my master. I should have, but I didn't. Now look where we are."

He looked at his bloody hands, "It all wasn't true at all. James was just acting…..I thought he might not ever….you know, cause harm again. It turns out my mother is actually really dead and while the fake Lizzie was doing her plan, James has a plan himself. And I was totally oblivious to all of this! It looked so real, the way James was looking at her. It turns out he was just acting. I wonder if James really swore not to use his ability again, probably not. Another lie."

She looked at him sympathetically, "Seth I'm-."

"I DON'T WANT YOUR SYMPATHY!" he interrupted her angrily, and then realizing that he sounded a little harsh, he said, "Please, maybe you can tell me where we are."

She looked away from him and he stood up and sat next to her. She looked so sad and…… beautiful. He touched her hair gently and she turned her face toward him. "I'm not sure if I should tell you."

"Try me," he said gently.

She closed her eyes and the said, "My master once told me that there were these people that had broken laws. They are of course all above age, so most of them are thirty million or so. Anyway at least each one of them broke one law…..at least. Even one law is a ticket for a trial by the council. You're probably wondering why the council didn't go after James sooner. Well…it was because of these guys," she paused, "This is a long story."

He looked at her gently, "We have time."

She stared at him and then shook her head, "Don't do that, Seth."

He looked at her innocently, "What?"

"The look you just made at me, you looked……so beautiful….. it distracted me."

He laughed, "You're just saying that and besides you're more beautiful."

She rolled her eyes, "You have no idea the affect you have on people, do you? Never mind I should start the story. Okay a very long time ago, the council was looking for this boy. He had claimed the lives of many children and destroyed a whole city. Everyone knew his power; he was basically a human bomber. He could concentrate large amounts of energy in his hands and let it out on any building or city. Luckily it wasn't as powerful to destroy a whole country. He was young at this time, about three-hundred, when the council found him. Since it was one of their laws not to execute anyone underage they sentenced him to a life in prison. Somehow he escaped about a million years later. The council looked desperately for him, but he was nowhere to be found.

Now, many, many years later he appeared again. The council immediately took action and went out to kill him. He was just standing there alone…..in the middle of a park…..and the council began to creep in, only to discover it was a trap. People with abilities suddenly sprang from their hiding places and killed half the council's warriors before they knew what hit them. When the council began to make sense of this confusion, they had no choice but to flee. You see, they had only brought a few warriors and they were no match against all these hundreds of people with abilities. So they fled for their lives.

Now, the leader didn't come with the warriors. And when he heard what happened, he called every warrior in the council, even some of the apprentices, to clean up this mess. So they went to the park that they had been ambushed at and waited. About an hour later they came out silently and with a flag of truce. The human bomber, now a lot older, came over to the leader, "I just want to talk," he said.

The leader nodded and came over to him. Now this was the age where swords were very popular and bows. So when they were close to each other, the leader didn't honor the truce and pulled out his sword and stabbed the human bomber right in the heart. He obviously died and the leader cleaned off his sword on his cloak. By this time, the people with abilities that followed the human bomber were mad. It was considered beyond evil to break a truce, and they were ready to fight. The leader nodded to his warriors and they sprang into action. The fight lasted hours, but it was soon clear that the warriors were winning. Soon, there were only a few hundred people with abilities left and they began to retreat. The warriors let them go; knowing they probably wouldn't bother them again. Although that wasn't true.

Throughout the years they had many similar fights and the council usually won. The people with abilities now only had about fifty people left, when a girl joined the group. Her ability was interesting…..she could play on people's feelings. For instance, she could make you a madman. She can make you go insane and not even know who you are anymore.

The people with abilities, which we will now call the criminals because that is what they are, used this girl to their advantage. In the next fight, they won because of her, and many of the council's warriors could never fight again because of what she had done to them. In the fights that followed, the warriors desperately tried to kill the girl, but no one could even touch her. Finally, the warriors had no choice but to lay back for a while. And the criminals had a plan to attack the council base itself.

About two weeks later the criminals began to sneak up to the council's base. But this didn't turn out too well because the base was guarded by very old magic. The criminals were almost completely destroyed for just trying to get in and they went into hiding. This ended their fights to this day.

It was said that anyone that had ever broken any of the council's laws were allowed to join the criminals. That is, if you could find them before the council found you. And….that's the story."

Seth frowned at this and stood up, "Is the leader in that story the same leader today?"

She nodded, "Yes, and I know what you're thinking. That he had broken a truce, but he had to kill the bomber because he was causing problems."

He looked away from her, "You know," he said, "In that story I was somehow siding with the criminals for a good portion of it."

She looked away from him, her eyes full of worry, "Seth, the criminals are very bad guys, they're……like James. That's how you join them. Many of them have broken numerous laws and they are black in their hearts. The only reason why they want to destroy the council is so they can rule instead. The council isn't exactly innocent, but they look like angels compared to the criminals."

He looked at her worried gaze and sat down next to her again. She laid her head on his chest, "I'm sorry," he said softly, "It's not like I'm going to join these guys. Hell, I just want to run away from all this. But that is as likely to happen as James is going to turn good. The leader wants me as his apprentice and I'm James's son, so I'm stuck here. I either have to go on one side or the other."

Jessie closed her eyes, "I don't think you get to pick the side. But I already know my side. It's with you."

He forced a smile on his face and stroked her long hair. She seemed to relax and was soon asleep. He wished he could fall asleep that fast, but frankly, that was impossible for him. So he just laid his head against the cold wall and waited. Through the long hours, he tried to sleep, but it just wouldn't come. Too much worry was on his mind. Who would win the battle? If the council won, would they look for them down here and just leave them? And if the criminals won the battle, what would happen to them? What would happen to Jessie? Would they kill her as if she was no more than a puppy? As all these worries flashed through his mind, he knew that he shouldn't even try sleeping.

When Jessie woke up they sat in a tensed silence. He knew he should probably be hungry, but just the thought of food made him want to gag. The floor soon made him uncomfortable and he began to pace.

Twelve hours later he heard the door unbolt. He expected to see the leader and was stunned to see James. A smile was on his face, but other than that he looked terrible. He had a few scrapes on his face that were still bleeding and dark circles were under his eyes. His clothes were covered in spots of blood and tattered in some places. All in all he looked like he should be exhausted, but it didn't show on his face. "Well, well, well isn't it your lucky day. We won."

He glared at James, "Yeah, I'm so happy. Can't you see the smile on my face," he said sarcastically.

James sighed and made a gesture for them to come over to him. Immediately his legs seemed to be obeying James and not him and he was forced to walk over to him. The same was happening with Jessie. So James hadn't really sworn not to use his ability again. "That's better," he said, his smile gone, replaced by a cold face, "Now you're going to meet all the criminals. You'll like them, I hope. And they so want to meet you."

Seth felt like punching him in the face, but James didn't exactly let him do that. In fact, they were forced to follow him out of their dungeon and up the stairs. He soon began to hear shouts and loud talk full of excitement. They shortly came into the eating hall where all the criminals seemed to be celebrating. They didn't seem to have noticed them and James went over to one of the men. He had olive skin and short cropped black hair. A long bloody scrape extended along his jaw and he looked coldly at them. "I don't very much like children, James. I thought you knew that," he said in a rough voice.

James smiled, "I did know that, but……I think you might be interested in what abilities they have."

The man suddenly smiled also, "It would be my pleasure." He then extended his hand toward them and touched Jessie first. Her eyes grew wide and she let out a cry of pain and fell to the floor.

Seth's eyes grew wide, "Stop! What are you doing?"

The man ignored him and took his hand away from her. She let out a gasp and slowly stood up again. He looked at her worriedly and she forced a smile on her face to say that she was okay. "An interesting power, it could be useful. I'm a little disappointed though," said the man, "Let's hope you have a better one, boy." He then touched him gently on the arm. It was like an explosion blasting through him. He cried out and collapsed to the floor. A few minutes later, when the man took his hand away, it was over. He stood back up slowly and saw the man smiling at him. "Extremely powerful and a good ability too. Where'd you get him James?"

James looked at him coolly, "He's my son."

The man seemed stunned for a second and then nodded, "I should have known. You two look much alike and who else in the world would he get this wonderful ability from? But James, his ability is more powerful than yours."

He nodded, "That is what I was hoping."

"Did I just hear that someone's ability is more powerful than James's," said a high voice.

Seth saw James roll his eyes, "It's nice to see you too Helen."

The woman named Helen came over. She was a very beautiful and striking woman with long blonde hair, gold eyes and very skinny. "James and I are the most powerful here and now we have someone even more powerful?"

Seth immediately knew that this was a very bad woman. Just the way she held herself made him know that she was evil. She came next to him and forced his chin up. He tried to struggle from her grip, but it was useless. She smiled, "He's very handsome. Like most powerful people are and I can sense the power radiating from him. It must be hard keeping that all in, mustn't boy."

He glared at her, "Oh, I would happily kill you with it. I don't really enjoy having your ugly skinny fingers on my face. Your nose is also a little too small; did someone knock off part of it at one point in your life? Or is it naturally so revolting."

Everyone suddenly began laughing at this, except Helen herself. She looked at him with a deadly calmness and sunk her nails in his face. He bit his lip from crying out and she threw him to the floor. "This one needs to be taught some manners," she said icily.

Seth felt some blood slide down his face, but he had to say one more insult, "Not really, I'm just a very honest person. You want to know another thing? Your hips are really; really bony they make you look like a skeleton that is part elephant, if you know what I mean."

The whole hall burst out laughing at this and now Helen looked angry. She then cocked her head to the side and he suddenly saw Annie dead on the floor. The bullet hole in her head was streaming blood and she was smiling at him, "This was all your fault. You did this to me," she said, "I could have lived for many more years, but you took that away from me." He felt despair fill his heart as he heard this and confusion of why she was there. He was about to say he was sorry and that he knew it was his fault, when she disappeared and his foster mom was looking at him. She looked like she always did when she was angry and her brown hair was tied up in a bun.

"You have always disappointed me," she said unkindly, "And now that I'm dead I hope you live in hell." He began to feel sick and she disappeared to reveal Matt looking at him. A large red stain was over his heart and his eyes were an ugly red.

"SATS is gone now because you came. Do you know how successful that school could have been?" he said coldly, "All those kids are now dead because of you. I'm dead and it's all your fault." Matt then disappeared and he was back in the hall again. He fell to his knees and a low whimper escaped from his mouth.

"Stop playing with the boy, Helen," said James, "He's only fifty seven."

She was looking at him with an amused glance, "Fine, I'll be nice….for now. But one thing, James. Just remember to teach him not to talk back to his elders."

James laughed and came over to him, "He has learned to respect _me_. I just need to teach him to be a little more obedient to everyone else." He then held out his hand to Seth. He ignored it and stood up himself. He was far from playing with any of the criminals now. Just the sight of Annie, his mom and Matt made him feel miserable. He looked at Jessie and saw Helen was studying her. Anger built up inside of him like a bomb about to blow up and his hands started glowing.

"Let her go," he said furiously.

Helen looked up in surprise, "I'm sorry? What did you just say?"

His hands glowed hotter and sparks started flying. "I said, let…her…go. What does she have that you want, anyway? It's me that you want, so just let her go free."

Helen smiled at him and then grabbed Jessie by the hair and puller her head back. She cried out and he couldn't control it anymore and let out the killer magic in his hands. Luckily Helen ducked with Jessie, but the people behind her weren't so lucky. It hit them full blast and….instead of dying began screaming on the floor.

They convulsed and screamed in pain. After a few minutes the three people were just sobbing for it to be over, and streams of crimson blood began running from their mouths. Soon their skin turned an ugly grey and began to sink into their bones, while their eyes seemed to fry away into their skulls. But the terrible part was that they were still alive and screaming. Before long their skin disappeared totally and they was just a pile of bones.

Seth sank to his knees in horror of what he had done. No, no, no, he had just tortured and killed people in a way he didn't think possible. What had he done? What had he become? He heard a distant laughing and looked around the room. The criminals were actually laughing at what he had done! "You have a killer right there, James," said one person.

"Did you just see what he did? Cleaned those people of all their flesh!!" said another.

"With more training he could beat the council single handedly."

Many more of these comments went around the room and he felt someone pull him up.

It was James.

He wasn't laughing or smiling, just looking at him calmly. He then slowly led him from the room. They walked on the marble floors silently and up some stairs when Seth couldn't take it anymore, before he began vomiting violently. His body couldn't take anymore and his mind felt like it exploded. When there was nothing left in his stomach to throw up, he leaned against the wall and felt sobs rack through his body. He wanted this all to end. He just wanted….to go. Surely death was better than what he had done?

"Just let it all out boy," said James, his face expressionless, "I know that….it's hard the first time."

Anger built inside of him at these words, "_Hard the first time!_" he managed to choke out, "What the hell do you know about HARD! You enjoy doing this type of thing, _you_ enjoy it. You have no idea what I'm feeling right now….Please," he said and fell to his knees in front of him, "Just kill me. I don't deserve to live. I…..want some peace. Surely going to hell is better than this."

James then looked at him severely, "Death. You want death? That's all you're going to know for the rest of your life. Death, death and more death. So get used to it, boy. You should be lucky I'm in a good mood today and that I didn't make you do something worse."

He looked at James in disbelief, "You made me do that?"  
"In a way I did. Before I brought you guys up here. I told Helen I wanted to demonstrate your power. I thought the best way to do that was take the girl that you only _think_ that you love. You of course would get mad and let out your ability. You see, Seth, it's so easy to make you mad. You're like a starved lion in a cage and when someone just puts one tiny finger near you, you're ready to bite it off."

He looked down, "You're right. You don't even have to control me with your ability, you just use my anger. But I'm going to try to do anything that I can possibly do against you to kill you.

James smiled mockingly, "You're still as defiant as the first time I caught you."

"Just like you were James," said a deep voice.

James turned around in surprise, whipping out his gun with him. He then dropped it, seeing who it was and, to Seth's surprise, bowed. The man was very tall, as tall as James with dark green eyes and wavy brown hair. He was wearing a long black dirty cloak and dark muddy boots, and his face had an expression of coldness in it.

"Well, James, it's been a long time, hasn't it?"  
James stood up and nodded, "It has Orius, but probably not that long for you."

Orius's face did not change expression, "I've heard about your feat of killing Diane. I was wondering when you would figure that out."

"I was weak," said James, "And now, killing Diane was as simple as eating pie. But how about you, why are you here?"

"I came to see your son," he replied, "And you. You've grown James, your ability too. You're probably going to kill me for this, but maybe it was a good thing that girl of yours died. You're beginning to realize just who you are."

James's face darkened, and he clenched his fists, "Never say that," he said dangerously, "Because she died, I'm a _different_ man than before. The old James died when she did. Love seems like……a waste of time now. I've had to kill a few women because they were getting on my nerves by being attracted to me. That's what power does; it attracts people like a spider to a fly."

"Yes," said Orius, smiling, "That's exactly what it does. But how about your son? The power inside of him seems like it's going to burst from him like a tidal wave. I can feel his anger at you and his confusion."

Orius continued talking and Seth stood up, forcing himself to get really angry. It wasn't that hard and soon his hands began glowing. He then sent an arc of the power at James and Orius at the same time. They weren't even looking at him and just held out their hands to block it. In other words, it didn't even get close to touching them.

"Why…..why are you doing this?" he cried heatedly, "Do you just want me to kill?" James and Orius seemed to ignore him and kept on talking. Fine then, he thought, I'll just walk away and see what happens. He had taken about ten steps, when James twisted his hand in a weird motion and he was thrown back into the air and to the floor right next to James. He bit his lip from moaning and James twisted his fingers again and the pain swept through him. His eyes grew wide and he began screaming in agony. It was like every part of his body was being twisted and broken over and over again. His body convulsed on the ground and he couldn't stop screaming from the pain of it.

James knelt by him, smiling and stared at him for a few minutes, before he twisted his hands again and the pain gratefully stopped. His body shook uncontrollably and a moan escaped from his lips. "Look at me, boy," said James coolly, and seeing he wasn't looking at him, grabbed his face by the chin and forced him to look in his cold black eyes. "You have to start listening soon. Otherwise the pain will be a hell of a lot worse than what I just did to you. Now say hi to Orius for me." He then let go of him and Seth forced himself to stand. His legs shook a little and he looked at the ground.

"You look like hell, Seth," Orius commented.

"I…..feel like hell," he said painfully.

Orius then stroked him gently on the cheek, "You'll get used to it. Everyone does, eventually, but unfortunately for you, you don't have any choice in the matter of what you want to do with your life. We have that choice and we have already decided what to do with you. Killing is an art, Seth, and it takes many years of very hard training to master it. You are very young and people usually don't start training until they're at least a hundred. But, regrettably, the leader wants _you_ as his apprentice. This unfortunate coincidence has made us hurry faster than we would have. The council _will_ be attacking us much more often because of getting you. But since I'm here and James is, that won't be a problem. Frankly, I'm not surprised he wants you to become his apprentice. He's been looking for a long time for the best person for the job and then you came and he felt that you were the one."

"I'm the one?" asked Seth angrily, "What? Is there, like, some kind of prophecy about me? I'm sorry, okay, but I don't want any of this. I don't know why he wants me. I have a killer power, a power that…..destroys people. I DON'T GET IT!!"

Orius smiled, "Of course you don't. But you will understand when you're older. Right now, you just do as I say."

He looked away from Orius and said quietly, "No…..I won't."

"Yes," said James severely, "You will, unless you want me to get Jessie for you. I would happily torture her for a few days."

Seth paled and Orius put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it painfully. "So how do you want his training to be given, James?"

James looked at Seth callously, "I would have taken his training into my own hands, but I'm very busy at the moment. So I've decided that different criminals throughout the day will be training with him. I will train with him at night and you……whenever you want."

Orius nodded and Seth suddenly blurted out, "What about Jessie? What are you going to do with her?"

"If you do exactly what you're told," said James cruelly, "You won't have to worry about her."

Seth's heart beat agonizingly at these words, but James didn't let him wallow in depression for long. He forced him to follow him through the halls and up the dirty stairs. They climbed for a couple minutes before the stairs ended and James turned left. There were many steel doors along this hallway bearing many different numbers. It was obvious that this had been a hotel once, but had been abandoned for the criminals to use. James led him down the hall full of doors, to the second last one bearing the number 401. He turned the handle and forced him inside. There was a dusty four poster bed with no sheets and extremely dirty floor that looked like it had once been majestic. Old wooden cabinets, now rotting, stood against the wall and a window that looked out onto the filthy streets.

As Seth studied the dismal room, James closed the door. "Well," he said, "It looks like you've got some cleaning up to do. There's a shower along the wall to your right, where I want you to get cleaned up. We have a celebration tonight and there should be a tux lying there, although I'm really not sure if they remembered. I should be back in a few hours, and while I'm gone I expect you to get some rest. You look like shit."

"A tux?" he said in disbelief.

James rolled his eyes, "It was Helen's idea. She always looks forward for people to dress up like clowns. Anyway, I see no point in locking the door, so you can wander wherever you want. And please, don't bother trying to escape. I put some wards around this place that'll keep you in and if you even go near them…..let's just say it's going to hurt." And with those words, James left.

He looked around and then decided to take a shower first. The shower was terribly grimy and the tile that had once been white was now closer to a very dark muddy grey. There was a towel and a black tux on the wooden bench by the shower. He took off his shirt and tried not to stare at the new collection of bruises and scrapes he had dealt with that day. If this continued, he was going to look like a beat up skeleton. One particular bad bruise was on his side. It was about half a foot in diameter and a greenish-yellow. It hurt a lot, but he barely noticed these kinds of dull pains anymore.

After the freezing cold shower he put on the white button down shirt, black tie, jacket and pants. It was true, he felt exhausted, but how could he sleep in his state of mind? He ran a hand through his wet black hair and came out of the shower room. Well, he could try to sleep and he better try, for who knows when he would be able to sleep again. He threw himself on the bed, which was a bad idea because all the pains and aches in his body began hurting again. He moaned and waited for it to dull away. He closed his eyes and a picture of Jessie, dead on the floor stood in front of his eyes. Blood was spilling from a wound on her heart and her sightless eyes stared at him expressionless. He opened his eyes quickly, his body shaking, and sat up. He was definitely going crazy. He then remembered a trick that SATS had taught him, when your mind was restless. You had to be trained for two years in meditation first (which he had) and had to completely empty your mind of everything. Usually this took twenty minutes, but today it took an hour. As his mind emptied, his body began to relax and a few minutes later he was asleep.

Chapter 34

He woke up screaming, nothing unusual, except that the nightmare was the worst one yet. He had dreamed the whole council was dead except the leader, who said if he didn't come with him, he would kill Lizzie. Now it happened that Annie was still alive and in James's hands. He had also said if he didn't join him, he would kill her. In the end they both ended up dying.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and forced himself to take deep breaths. It was then he noticed James staring at him across the room. He looked nice, his hair was gelled out of his face and he was also wearing a tux. He was with a stout woman who was holding a large white handbag. "More nightmares, Seth," he commented, "You should be used to them now, I should think."

He glared at him, "I know you think I'm weak, and I want the nightmares to end. But they don't. Every day they get worse and worse."

James laughed, "Weak? All people your age are weak. They're maturing and nightmares are normal. Actually I think you're taking it pretty well, considering. What'd you dream about this time? Did you kill your mommy? Or maybe Jessie, perhaps?"

"Shut up," he said quietly.

James smiled, and studied him. "You need to eat something very sugary or fatty, something with a lot of calories, because you're turning into a skeleton. The tux doesn't really help it that much."

He looked down, "I saw all the criminals eating yesterday. I thought you said you don't have to eat anymore."

"We don't," said James, "But some of us still like the taste of food, unfortunately. But there still is a good percentage that doesn't eat at all. Now Susan here is going to do something with your hair. You don't want to look like I just pulled you off the street."

Seth looked at the woman named Susan. She looked a little gloomy standing next to James and you could tell she just wanted to run away from him as fast as her fat little legs could go. She did as James asked her and sat next to him on the bed. She pulled out a brush and a circular container that said GEL on the front from her handbag and began brushing his hair. "You know," said Seth to James, "I can brush my hair myself."

He ignored him and Susan continued her brushing. When she was done with that she added a little gel to his hair, to Seth's annoyance. After the gel she put everything back in her bag and walked out of the room without a second glance. James looked really amused. "It's kind of funny how many people are scared out of their wits about me, but it gets really annoying sometimes too. Because every time I try to tell them something I need to repeat it twice before it registers in their scared little minds."

"I wonder why that is," Seth muttered.

James then forced him up off the bed. "We're going to be late if linger an longer."

Seth was again forced to follow James down to the dining hall. Many criminals were there, all dressed up. Everyone stared at them as they went to sit down at one of the tables. The dining hall looked different than before. This time there was a huge space cleared out for dancing and colorful lights decorated the ceiling. Some people were dancing to an upbeat pop song that he guessed was popular now.

James led him to one of the tables by the dance floor and two men and a woman were sitting there. One of the men was short with thin blonde hair while the other was bald and loaded with muscle, he sort of reminded Seth of the Hulk. The woman had short purple hair and piercings all over her face, along with various tattoos that covered her body. She was wearing a very showy, green strapless dress and you could tell she was attracting the two men at the table. They sat down and the woman smiled at James with her lips covered in bright pink lipstick. He didn't smile back and looked at the bald buy. "I need to fatten this boy up, give me some suggestions of food for him."

The bald guy stopped staring at the woman's chest and said, "Just get him some cake or something."

"Um, Daniel," said the woman with the piercings, "They only have local food here."

Daniel looked at her blankly, "Oh…."

James looked annoyed, "Just tell me what's on the menu."

"I would suggest," said the woman, looking at Seth, "To give him some kanafe or halowah. They're the fattiest things on there, but he might not eat the halowah. It's a little weird."

"I'll force it down his throat if I have to," said James coldly.

The short man was still staring at the woman, "Do you want me to get you something to drink," he said suddenly to her.

She smiled and batted her eyelashes, "That would be so sweet, Tom. Give me some of that rum punch and tell George to get the kanafe and halowah."

The man named Tom hurriedly stood up and went to do as he was told. He then heard the sound of a cell phone ringing. James quickly took the phone out of pocket and answered, "Yes?" A short silence followed, before James said, "Just get it done……no, I don't care how……okay, good." He then hung up and put it back in his pocket.

It was then two people entered the hall. One of them was Helen and she was wearing a short pink dress and her hair was pulled in a tight bun added with a few glimmering clips. A long pearl necklace laced her throat and many bracelets lined her wrists. The other girl next to her was someone so beautiful she was hard to look at. At first Seth didn't recognize her, but then realized that it was…..Jessie. She was wearing a long sparkly blue dress and dark blue stilettos on her feet. Her hair had been curled and hung down past her shoulders in a curly wave. A blue stone necklace was on her throat and she had glittery blue eye shadow above her eyes. Two silver swirly earrings hung on her ears and a simple gold bracelet had been placed on her wrist. Her head was bowed and all Seth could do was stare at her.

Helen led Jessie to their table and they sat down. Seth tried to catch Jessie's eye, but she didn't even look at him. "Hello James, you look nice," commented Helen.

"That's nice, because you look like a pink balloon," replied James calmly. Helen looked stunned at this comment and her face turned an angry red.

"A-a balloon," she said humiliatingly, "How dare you!"

James shrugged, "It's the truth, but you did a good job on Jessie. She actually looks like she could be pretty."

Helen glared at James, but he was as calm as ever. "You're just saying that about me because you can't stand making a bad comment."

"You could say that," he said, "Or maybe because you actually look like one."

At this Helen spread out her hands, about to use her ability, but James was already a step ahead of her and blasted her to the floor. She cried out and tried to struggle back on her feet. James didn't let her though and twirled his hands. She let out a painful scream, jabbing her nails in her skin, drawing blood. A small smile came on James's face, "Too bad you have a useful power, otherwise I would enjoy blasting you to pieces."

She looked at him fearfully and before James could do anymore, heard a cold voice interrupt him, "Stop playing with her, James."

Seth looked at who had spoken to James and saw it was Orius. Everyone in the hall, seeing Orius, stood up and bowed. James looked disappointed at being interrupted, but bowed formally to him. "Yes, Orius, of course."

Helen then slowly stood up, her hair a tangled mess, and left the room. While everyone in the room sat back down in their chairs or continued dancing.

Orius came over to Seth's table, and sat down next to him, "As an order, I would like you to dance with Jessie, Seth," he said coolly.

Jessie looked up at this, and shook her head, "No! Please, I have no idea how to dance. And I really don't want to humiliate myself."

By this time, James came over to the table, "But Seth does. Go on, boy, amuse us."

Seth looked at his hands, "I haven't danced in years. She doesn't want to any-."

"I wasn't asking, Seth," interrupted Orius warningly.

He clenched his teeth and stood up abruptly, "Fine then. Jessie, come on."

She looked unsure, but stood up awkwardly. They went over to the dance floor, and a medium paced song came on. Jessie was looking at her feet, and he looked at her worriedly. "What's wrong, you're not acting like you usually do."

She looked up at this and smiled at him, "No, I'm fine. Let's just get this over with. So what do I do?"

"Here, put your hand on my waist," he said calmly. She did this and he took her hand, "Don't worry," he said reassuringly, "I'll lead, all you have to do is follow me."

She laughed, "I learn fast, don't worry."

He smiled and began to lead her across the dance the floor. At first she was hesitant, but soon she was doing the moves as if it was second nature. He looked at her in the eyes, but she was looking at her feet, seeing if she was doing the moves right. "You're so beautiful," he said quietly.

She looked up and blushed, "Where'd you learn to dance," she said, trying to change the subject.

He let her and said, "When I was rich and famous………I've danced with a lot of girls at tons of parties. It was fun, and I guess I would enjoy this more if James and Orius weren't staring at me as if I was something to play with."

"I enjoy this," she said softly, and put a strand of his black hair that hung loose, behind his ear.

He then twirled her in a circle and they came together very close. A sudden urge to kiss her came through him, but he forced himself to ignore the impulse. It was then the song ended. He let go of her hand and she just stared at him. "What?"

She smiled, "You know what."

Before he could reply, he felt a tingling in his back and was forced to walk toward James, Jessie followed him silently. "Bravo!" James said, "I'm not so bored now."

Orius nodded, "Beautifully done. It seems you have much talent, James has been telling me how good of a singer and guitar player you are. You should play for us."

"That was a question, so no," said Seth coldly.

Orius frowned and stood up, towering over him, "Apparently you still don't understand my rules, Seth. When I ask you to do something, you do it. No questions asked and no defiance. You understand?"

Seth glared at him, "No I don't actually. Could you repeat-." He suddenly felt a burst of terrible pain fill him and he fell to the floor, coughing terribly. Blood spattered from his mouth and onto the food filled floor. He tried to gasp for air, but he choked on his own blood. He coughed and coughed and James came next to him, kicking him straight in the stomach. His eyes grew wide, "Do you remember the last time I did this?" said James heartlessly, "So do as your told."

Seth shook his head weakly and coughed some more, blood was soon spreading in a pool around him. "STOP IT!" said Jessie in horror, "Please, Seth, just do as they say. I'll sing with you, please. Oh please."

"Shut up, girl," said Orius, "He has to learn the consequences of what he's done."

Seth could barely breath now, too much blood was filling his lungs and his body began shaking with convulsions. He couldn't let Jessie see him like this, he told himself, he would have to give in. James knelt next to him, "Are you ready to listen now."

He nodded feebly and the pain stopped. He probably looked terrible with all the blood all over him, and he felt like he was about to faint. Jessie was looking at him in shock and James picked him up by the hair and threw him to the dance floor, hard. He cried out in pain and struggled to get up. James came over to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. A cold surge of energy poured into him and he almost sighed in relief for the energy. "I only did that," James said in his ear, "So you would have enough energy to sing."

He stood up poorly, "I need a guitar," he said weakly.

"It's all up there," said James pointing to the back of the dance floor.

He nodded and walked over to it. The music that was playing stopped and he looked at the guitar. It was an electric one and yellow with a black streak across the front. He strummed it, to test it for errors and went up to the microphone. No one was staring at him, except James's table. He took a deep breath and thought of the song he would do. He finally decided on one and began playing his guitar skillfully. He then added his voice and he went into the music. He didn't notice anything around him, he forgot about all his worries.

It was just him and the guitar.

He added a few moves while he played; it was an upbeat song and needed a little movement with it. He was still weak, even after James had given him the energy, so he didn't do anything too draining. By the time he was done, everyone in the hall was staring at him in astonishment. He quietly walked off the stage and back to James's table. Food had been brought there, but the last thing he wanted to do right then was eat. Orius was sitting back in his chair and smiling, "Lovely guitar playing, but I don't want you to be a musician. So you'll not touch a guitar again for as long as you live. From now on you will kill."

Sadness swept through him. One of his favorite things that he enjoyed in life was playing. Now he would never be able to play again. Never be able to touch that beautiful instrument again. Jessie was looking at him sadly, and he looked away from her and sat down. "Now I would like you to eat, boy," said James watchfully.

He looked at the food in front of him. It was some kind of cheese thing topped with tiny thin red noodles and covered in syrup. The other thing was what looked like a kind of cake with pistachios inside. Looking at the food he felt like throwing up, but he obediently took a fork and cut a little piece of the cheese thing in front of him. His mind registered that it was sweet and warm, but he wasn't really enjoying it. When the cheese thing was done, he felt like his stomach might burst. He remembered when a tiny thing like that wouldn't even have filled a quarter of his stomach, now it hurt to even fit it all inside of him. He hoped James wasn't going to make him eat the pistachio thing too. But of course he did.

Seth forced himself to take his fork and cut a tiny piece and put it in his mouth. He immediately wanted to spit it back out. It was way too sweet. More like a sour-sweet. Let's just say it tasted terrible to him. He set his fork down, "You can't make me eat that," he said with disgust, "it tastes disgusting."

James looked at him in annoyance, "That's too bad," he said sarcastically, "I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this."

He then gestured toward the fork and Seth found his hand forced to take it and eat the halowah. It was terrible and Seth felt gagging the whole time, but James persisted. The woman with the piercings was soon laughing at him along with Tom. Daniel (being so dumb) had no idea what they were laughing about. Orius looked amused and Jessie was the only one who actually knew what he was going through. When the halowah was finally done (James had made him eat it piece by tiny piece) he felt like vomiting all over the table. "Come on, boy," said James, smiling, "You can keep it in, be a man. But now I think it's time you get to bed."

He was then forced to follow James back to his dirty room. "You should probably sleep for a few hours," said James, once they had gotten there, "I have a surprise for you tomorrow."

Seth was relieved when he finally left and fell onto his bed and into an exhausted sleep.

He woke up to a fierce pain ringing through his body. He screamed and rolled off the bed and onto the floor. "Rise and shine," said James.

Seth moaned and picked himself off the floor. He saw that James had changed out of his tux and into a casual jeans and t-shirt. He was also holding clothes in his hand, which he threw at Seth. "Get dressed, it's time I show you my little surprise."

He had a bad feeling about this surprise, but pulled off his tux and slipped on the torn up jeans and blue striped polo. James waited, tapping his foot impatiently, until he was done. He then led him down the stairs and into a cold dank room. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, his stomach started twisting in knots, for on the floor of the room were two people. Two people that he loved and cared about. One had long dirty blonde hair and was very thin from the lack of food. The other had even longer dark red hair and streaks of makeup on her face from tears. As you have probably guessed they were Ivy and Jessie. Both of them looked terrified and James closed the door. "Hello ladies," he said smiling, "Ready for tonight's entertainment? It's going to be fun."

Seth looked at James in unconcealed horror, "What are you going to do?"

James laughed, "Oh, look at those eyes. So innocent. Well, while you were asleep last night, I snuck your friend Ivy here from the council. It wasn't that hard, they weren't keeping that much of an eye on her."

"You will pay for this, you villain!" cried Jessie suddenly.

James looked at her in surprise and pulled out his gun. It was a long slender weapon and he held out the hilt of it to Seth. "Here, boy, take it. You'll need it soon."

Seth looked at the gun, afraid of what James was going to make him do, and shook his head. James immediately looked chilling, his cold eyes like black fire. He made a gesture toward the gun and Seth found himself taking it from his hand. It felt heavy, cold and deadly in his hand. "For today's training I want you to learn a different kind of pain," said James, "It's called the pain of choice. Let me explain the rules. The gun that you have in your hand will kill one of your friends on the floor. To make sure that you do this one simple thing I'm going to torture both of them until you do kill one of them. So as long as you stand there figuring out which one to kill, they'll be in pain. Sounds good?"

The words that James said slowly registered in his mind and he fell to his knees in front of him. "No! Please, I'll do anything, anything," he said pleadingly, sad tears rushing down his face, "Just don't make me do that. Please, I'll…..kill anyone else. Just-."

James looked at him coldly, "You should know by now that pleading won't work."

"Seth," said Ivy with amazing calmness, "Just kill me. I know that…..he's making you do it. Don't think it's your fault. It's not and I want you to know that…….I love you. The first time I saw you, I did and I hope it wouldn't end this way." He looked at her, her blue eyes so warm and calm with a trace of fear. He felt miserable and shook his head, that he couldn't possibly kill her.

James looked at him mockingly, "Oh, that's so sweet. And Seth, you have a minute before we start."

He looked at Jessie; there was a small smile on her face, as if she accepted what was going to happen, "Kill me Seth, if you knew all the terrible things that I've done in my life, than you would know I probably deserve to die. Don't kill Ivy; she's innocent. But as much as she says that she loves you is nothing compared of what I feel about you. I've never felt like this about anyone before. So just….kill me, okay."

Seth kept shaking his head and Jessie looked away from him, tears streaming down her beautiful face. "I think your times up," said James and then twisted his hands. He immediately heard them scream in agony and convulse on the floor. The gun in his hands now felt so heavy, as he looked at them. He remembered that he owed Ivy, for helping him, but he remembered kissing Jessie, her soft lips against his and how he had felt about her. He thought about all the times he and Ivy had talked and joked together. It was then he knew what he had to do. He took a deep breath and stood up on his feet, wiping the tears from his face.

He looked at James calmly, "I'm sure Lizzie would be proud of you right now. Sometimes I wish she can see you right now. What a monster you are. But seeing that that is not going to happen, I hope that you're living in hell and you always will."

James's face didn't change expression, "I think I can help your choice. How about I tell you that Jessie's the daughter of the leader? How do you feel about that?"

Shock went through him; Jessie was the daughter of the leader? How come she hadn't told him? Why did she lie to him? He looked at the gun in his hand and pointed it at Jessie's convulsing body. Her face was full of pain and beyond beautiful. His heart ached as he looked at her and he shot the gun. He moved it at the last second and the bullet hit Ivy straight in the head. Immediately her screams stopped and her body lay still. Blood poured from her head and into her sightless eyes, making her hair look a reddish-black. He sank to his knees and threw the gun across the room. Jessie's screams had stopped also and she was looking at him with sadness in her eyes. Sobs took hold of him of what he had done and he felt a cold hand lift him up. "It's over now, boy," said James quietly, setting him on his feet.

His body shook and he would have collapsed again if James wasn't helping him stand up. Ivy was dead now, he told himself, like so many other people he knew. It seemed that grief and pain never ended. "Well done, Seth, well done," said a different voice, "I'll take him now James."

He felt different hands grab his shoulders and he felt himself struggling against them, "NO! NO! I WANT TO KILL HIM! I WANT HIM TO DIE," he yelled and felt himself go into a frenzy of madness, but Orius's hands were too strong and led him away from the room. He kept struggling against his grip, but it was pretty useless and was literally half dragged through a hallway and to a large plain wooden door.

Orius opened the door and led him to a large room with a big desk filled with papers and books. Two comfy chairs sat by a roaring fire and paintings of pictures of men and woman hung on the walls. Orius set him down on one of the comfy chairs and he curled up, putting his head in his hands, his body shaking with sobs. Orius went to sit behind his desk and pulled out some papers. "I see that James had tested you on many things."

Seth ignored him and Orius stood up and went over to him. "It is normal for youngling's feelings to get out of control," he said to Seth.

"G-get away f-from me!" he cried out to him, "Just leave me alone!!"

Orius's eyes held no pity or understanding, just coolness. "Death is a natural part of life, Seth, and James is teaching you to get used to that. For that is the first thing to learn about being a killer, understanding and knowing death.'

"If death i-is so natural, then why don't you just k-kill me," he managed to choke out.

Orius looked angry at this and grabbed him by the hair and forced him to look in his eyes, "I would be too nice if I killed you, wouldn't I? Besides, you are going to be a major tool in destroying the council. All you need is a few years of training and then you'll be ready."

Seth's eyes began to water from Orius pulling on his hair, but he ignored the pain, "What if y-you don't destroy the council, what then. Besides even if you do, what does it matter, sure you have the whole world. But w-where's the fun in that? You g-going to make everyone your slaves or something? Kill when you want? What do you want with ruling everything?"

Orius let go of his hair and smiled, "You have no idea, do you? Haven't you realized by now that there are other worlds out there? This world is only the beginning. I have visited many worlds and many of them are far more advanced then we are, but I believe we at least have a chance against them when we have conquered this one."

Shock came through him, "You're crazy!! You're mad! So you basically want to conquer the whole universe?"

"In a way, yes, but you're too young to understand now. So shall we get on with your training?"

He glumly looked down and nodded. Orius smiled, and pulled out something from his desk. It was some kind of weird ball shaped thing, with a silver engraving of flames on it. It was about as small as the palm of his hand and coal black. He threw him the rock and Seth caught it single handedly. "What's this?" he asked.

"It's called a Demon Rock, it is usually used to store and draw power from. The flames on the rock are a special rune that can hold as much energy as you want. Be careful though, these are one of the rarest rocks in the world. They take years to create."

Seth looked at the rock, admiring its beauty. It felt cool in his hands and seemed to radiate an inner power. "It's beautiful," he said softly, stroking its smooth surface. It suddenly began to glow a soft blue. He almost dropped it in surprise.

"It's connecting to your ability,' said Orius, "Stay still or it might absorb all of your power on accident."

Seth did as he was told, and watched as the rock glowed brighter and brighter. It also became hot, almost too hot to hold in his hand. After about a minute, the light began to fade and seemed to soak into the rock.

"Why was it connecting to my ability?" he asked.

"In order for you to store and draw power from it," said Orius, eyeing him as a predator does to its prey, "It needs to have a feel of your ability. Now that it had connected with you, try to figure out how to store power inside it."

He looked at the tiny rock and tried to focus all his energy into it.

Nothing happened.

He tried again and got the same result. He looked at Orius for help, but he just looked at him coolly, expecting him to figure it out. He suppressed a sigh, and stared so hard at the rock that his eyes began to hurt.

It was then it hit him.

It wasn't about focusing your energy. It was about focusing your power. And the only way he knew how to let out his power was by his feelings. He took a deep breath and thought about Ivy. How he had first met her, all the memories they shared. He remembered her gentle smile, her comforting words, the way she laughed ……how he killed her. Just the thought of that gun in his hands and the ear deafening bullet shooting out of it and into her head made him feel miserable and sad. The way James had made him do it made him feel an anger that clouded his mind and controlled his actions.

His hands became hot and glowed like black fire. He quickly poured the power into the Demon Rock and watched as it began to radiate his power fiercely. It looked sort of like miniature super nova about to blow up. He soon began to feel weaker as his ability kept flowing into the rock, after a few minutes he didn't even have the strength to stand. His vision began blurring and his head reeled. He barely even noticed when his head hit the ground and he blacked out.

He was woken up by something cold and bitter sliding down his throat. He coughed and opened his eyes to see Orius kneeling over him with a cup of some kind of silvery liquid in his hands. He groaned, his body feeling as if it had tumbled down a cliff. He was almost too weak to lift his head.

"Keep drinking this," said Orius gently, "It'll get your strength back."

He obediently let Orius pour the liquid down his throat, trying to ignore the terrible taste of it. He soon felt strength soaking back into his limbs, and he sat up when the cup was empty. Orius stood up also and put the empty cup on a side table. "I think that's enough for today. You can go back to your and get some rest. The schedule for your training will vary, so expect it at any time."

Seth, strong enough to stand, stood up. "Can…..I see Ivy? Please, I just want to-."

Orius murmured a few words under his breath and Seth felt himself thrown back and crashed into a shelf. Books fell around him and the shelf swayed dangerously. He moaned and Orius walked slowly toward him, shaking his head in disappointment. "Seth, Seth, Seth, when will you ever learn? Do you actually think I would let you see Ivy? Do you honestly think James would? I believe, about now, that Ivy's body will have disappeared into dust and blown away by the wind, to be forgotten over time."

Seth had never felt such anger as he had at that moment. He felt his hands get extremely burning hot, and power leaked from his hands. "You're terrible!!!! How could you do that! She's only my age, the least you could have done was given her a proper burial."

Orius looked at him mockingly, "A proper burial? Why the hell would I give someone as pathetic as that skinny little thing a burial? She deserved what she got. Someone that weak should never even have been born. Now, I would greatly appreciate it if you would respect your master and leave this room!"

Seth looked down, all his anger spent with those words. His body and mind felt exhausted from all that had happened that day, and he felt just like dropping and he was tired of being angry when he could do nothing against any of the criminals. "Yes, master," he said defeated, turning towards the door.

"Good boy, there should be some books in your room that James expects you to study when you get there."

Seth said nothing to this and left the room. He didn't walk that far before grief overtook him. He leaned against the wall, a sob building up in his throat.

Ivy was dead now, he knew, and he had to accept that. He had to accept that this was his life now and there was nothing he could do to change that. Even if, somehow, the leader managed to destroy the criminals, what then? He would be forced to be an apprentice to him. He was basically just a tool being passed from one person to another. He knew he would probably never be free or fully happy again, those days were over. Now this is where he was, and this is where he was going to stay.

He took a deep breath and stood up straight. He would do what was asked of him, he would accept what they wanted him to become. But one day, he hoped that he would escape. Or at least not turn him into a person that absolutely abhors the world and spends their free time killing.

"I'm so sorry, Seth," said a soft voice. He turned around quickly to see Jessie staring at him. Her eyes were sad and she stretched out her hand towards him. He hastily took a step back and shook his head. "Get away from, Jessie, I don't think I could stand your touch."

She looked down and then, faster than he could even think, was in his arms. He felt her body shake with sobs as she held onto him tight, her heart thudding in her chest like a frightened deer. He held onto her even tighter, afraid she was going to disappear from him any minute. "You're allowed to go near me," he said, fighting to keep his voice under control.

She looked at him, her eyes as lovely and innocent as a dove, "They didn't say I couldn't. But aren't you mad at me? I didn't tell you I was the daughter of the leader."

He took a strand of her hair and put it behind her ear and shook his head, "How could I ever be mad at you. Besides, I've got worse family problems…I'm the son of James for god's sake."

He saw more tears stream down her face, he also noticed she had gotten thinner; her bones protruded more out of her skin now. "Seth," she said, her voice shaking, "I didn't tell you because…..there was no reason to. He completely ignores me, and doesn't even act like I'm his daughter. To tell the truth, he's ashamed of me. It used to be that the son or daughter of the first born of the leader would take his place. But he changed that law when my mother had me. First, you see, I had a weak ability to him. To see what other people want, what good is that in battle? I was just a small girl to him and he hated me. My mother abandoned us when I was two and my father ignored me after that and treated me as a lowly servant. So, you see there was no reason for me to tell you. He's not my father; he's just an insane man that just wants power and other people with power to take over for him."

He gently stroked her hair, "I'm beginning to hate your father more and more. How could he do that to someone as beautiful as you? You would be the most excellent leader and keep the laws justly. Your ability would help sort out arguments and help people with what they need. How can your father not see that?"

She smiled painfully and leaned toward his face and kissed him lightly. Warmth flowed from his heart at this touch and he felt the need to kiss her forever and forget about everything that had happened. He leaned toward her and their lips touched and they were soon kissing. He never wanted it to end; he wanted to be next to her fast beating heart and warm pulsing body. He pulled her more toward him and a sigh escaped from her lips. They then pulled apart breathing hard, her cheeks were rosy red and he guessed his were too.

"We should probably stop enjoying ourselves," he said breathlessly.

She shook her head, "No, we shouldn't deny our own luxuries. Think of it as something to look forward to. Besides…do you know why if you're apprenticed to the leader you can't fall in love?"

He shook his head and she continued, "They say so it doesn't distract your training. But I know better. It's because when you're older the leader is going to force you to-."

"I think that's enough talking you love birds," said a menacing voice, "If it was up to me I wouldn't even let love happen. I would kill the girl, so you, Seth, wouldn't get unfocused by her. We need you Seth, as quickly as possible and that won't happen while she's alive. But James and Orius must have plans for you two."

Seth turned around and saw Helen sneering at them. He made surethat Jessie was behind him and glared at her, "Shut up. Why are you here anyways, aren't you supposed to be crying in your bedroom over your humiliation that James did you?"

She smiled coldly, "I suggest you watch your tongue, boy, or I might just tell James what you two have been up to….. Somehow, I don't think he would like that."

Jessie looked at him fearfully at these words, but Seth just rolled his eyes, "I'm not stupid, James already knows. He knows everything, remember?"

Helen looked disappointed at this, and flipped back her blonde hair with a wave of one of her slim hands, "Okay, anyway I came here for you Jessie. We have a use for you right now and you won't see your little lover boy for a few days."

Sadness came through him at the thought of not seeing Jessie for a few days and he felt like saying another sharp retort back at her face, but bit his tongue from the impulse. He bowed his head and stepped away from Jessie, "As you wish, my lady."

He tried not to look at Jessie as he said this, but could feel her sad gaze staring at him. He then felt a light kiss on the side of his cheek. Longing for her soft touch overwhelmed him like a drug, as he felt her soft lips and it took almost all his will not to go and snatch her away from Helen. "When I come back, Seth," said Helen frostily, "I expect you to have some obedience beaten into you."

He then watched as she took Jessie's petite hand and led her away from him. Jessie didn't look at him the whole time, until then when her blue eyes met his. 'Don't do anything stupid' was what they said to him. He just stared at her and watched as she was forced to turn around and disappear around the corner. He stood there in the middle of the hallway for a few minutes before he snapped out of his reverie and went to his room.

Orius was right; there were five books in his room lying on the bed. The first book was very old and dusty and written in the ancient language that they had used about five million years ago in the Mystification Age. He knew this language from SATS and guessed that the book had been preserved after all these years by protective magic. It was called _The History and Culture of the Napatians_. He guessed that the Napatians were a race of people that had lived back then. He looked at the next book which was newer and had a cover made out of old green leather. The writing was intricate and swirly and it was called _Poisons, Plants and Medicines: the guide to everything you need to know about killing, poultices and wildlife. _Seth grimaced at this book, and went on to the third one, which looked even newer and made out of the old cardboard they use today. It was titled _Weaponry: includes weapons modern and ancient. _The fourth book was extremely old, the black velvet cover was half ripped off and he could barely make out the faded title which was in the ancient language they had used ten million years ago which he, of course, learned at SATS. It was called simply _Dreams. _The last book was the newest and looked as if it had just been bought for it still had a shiny new cover; it was titled _Younglings Changes throughout their Early Life._ He couldn't help but smile at this book; it should have been called _Puberty in Younglings Abilities and the Effects it has on their Bodies._

He decided to read the Napatian book first and then continue from there. He hoped he didn't have to finish all the books today because that would just plain suck. He opened up the book, dusting off the page lightly with his hand and began reading. It was an amazing book and told all about these ancient people of their daily lives and the wars they fought. The Napatians only used their abilities when it was absolutely needed; they never used it for petty things such as cleaning or fixing things. Seth was fascinated from beginning to end and was surprised that a space of a few hours had passed.

He began to feel tired, but forced himself to keep his eyelids open which were beginning to feel as if they each weighed three-thousand tons. He decided to read the Weaponry book next, but ended up falling asleep in the middle of it.

Chapter 35

He woke up to what felt like a whip lash on his back. He gasped and sat bolt up on the bed, the Weaponry book that he was reading sliding off his chest. The brief pain was gone now, but the cold fear replaced it at seeing the dark figure standing by his bed. He scowled at him, a feeling of pain and sadness welling up inside of him at what he had made him do yesterday.

"I hope you finished your homework because I shall be very disappointed to find that you haven't copycatted all these fine books," said James, his dark handsome face a mask of cruelty.

He looked down, barely controlling his anger, "Yeah, I read all five of these books last night," he said sarcastically.

James didn't look too pleased at this and waved his hand. He was immediately thrown in the air and smacked against a wall. He cried out by the impact and slid to the floor.

James walked over to him calmly, "Shall I teach you a lesson you need to know about obedience," he said coldly, "Have…..you ever been taught in school not to talk back? Well it's the same for me, except maybe a little worse. You aren't allowed to speak unless I say. Oh, and no annoying questions, they get very tiresome. I will teach you all you need to know and that will be final."

Seth sat up painfully, feeling the new bruise on his shoulder. He was getting tired of being beaten and tortured every day, but he had a feeling that that wasn't going to end anytime soon. "Yes….master."

"Good, and since you obviously haven't read all of these books, tell me which ones you did so I can figure out what to even get into today."

He looked into James's cold black eyes, and felt a little squirm of fear in his stomach, but he ignored it. "I read the Napatian one and am in the middle of Weaponry-."

James's eyes suddenly grew colder, "You…read…one…book?" he said slowly, "One. It seems like….another lesson is called for." James then twirled his hands in a circular fashion and Seth felt a terrible pain spread through his whole body. He screamed and writhed in agony as the pain spread through his whole body. It was like each part of him was being wrenched apart one by one as boiling hot acid was poured into him. It seemed like James liked to do a variety of tortures every time, each one even worse than the last. He left him like that for a few minutes, before he stopped the magic. "When an assignment is given to you, you do it," said James calmly, " Is it that hard? Now get up, I have better things to do then stand here torturing you all day."

Seth bit his lip from crying out and slowly got to his feet. He was a little unsteady, and felt like collapsing on his bed and sleeping for a few days. James gestured for him to follow him and he did so rather reluctantly. They walked rather fast to the dining area where some of the criminals were eating breakfast. He looked at the windows and saw it was barely dawn. There was only a faint light that was beginning to light up the sky and he had to guess that he had slept about two….maybe three hours at the most. Great, that was really strengthening.

James went over to one of the tables and took two slices of wheat bread that was on an old silver platter. He then came over to him and gave it to him, "Eat, you're as skinny as a stick. I need to remember to feed you more; otherwise I'm afraid you might turn into a skeleton."

He looked at the pieces of bread in his hands and felt his mouth water. He took a big bite of it….then another. Before he literally shoved down the last piece. He felt better, but longed for something tastier, but that was unlikely to happen with James.

James looked satisfied once he had finished and started walking out of the dining room. Seth followed him, and he was surprised when he was led out of the building and into the hot dusty air of Riyadh. Waiting for them there was Orius who looked perfectly comfortable with the heat although he was wearing a dark jacket and black pants. He noticed that James dressed a little lighter with baggy jeans and a black t-shirt. James bowed to Orius who nodded to him back.

"You look better than the last time I saw you Seth," Orius said smoothly.

Seth said nothing and only stared at a stray tabby cat that was crossing by them at that moment. "I think he's getting used to people that he knows, dying," said James.

Anger boiled inside of him, and he clenched his fists. "Getting used to it! How can you say that?" he couldn't help but blurt out, "Do you have no feelings at all?"

Orius and James looked at him, amused. "Think about it Seth," said James calmly, "When I first caught you and I killed your cute little sister, you cried and grieved for days. Now, after I killed Ivy, you're sad, sure, but you've gotten over it and accepted it."

Seth felt a trickle of blood flow down his wrist from clenching his hands so hard and was telling himself over and over to calm down, that it was no use being mad at him. He then felt a surge of power flow from his hands and wasn't surprised to see his hands glow faintly.

"You're like a bomb ready to blow. It must be hard to keep all that power in, mustn't boy?" said Orius unperturbedly, "You know, I can sense your ability from two miles away, while most I can sense only a puny quarter of a mile. Now you need to learn to control this wild power, but this will take many years and much patience."

Seth felt himself calming down and the glow fade from his hands. He looked back at the stray cat that was now watching them with curious eyes. James noticed him looking at the cat and he waved his hand at it. A small tendril of light escaped James's fingers and hit the cat full in the belly. Immediately the cat seemed to grow bigger and the fur began disappearing from it. He soon began to see pink skin and two long legs and arms emerge from it. It finally changed into a small naked girl of about five years old. She had long wavy black hair, olive skin and looked very thin as if from starvation. She was also extremely dirty, and badly bruised around her arms and chest.

He looked at this all in horror. How in the world did James know that this tiny girl was a shape-shifter? The girl looked at them with big scared eyes, and James went over to her.

"Great catch," said Orius, "What a fine poor girl."

The girl drew back a few steps, her whole body shaking with fear. James smiled unkindly and held out his hands, "لا اريد في يضر لك," he said in a language that he guessed was Arabic.

The girl, now even more scared, tried to run from him, but James caught her as if she was a scurrying mouse. Tears suddenly started running down her cheeks and she cried, "الرجاء إعادة مهاجمتي!"

James ignored her cry and held her like a small baby to Orius. "Give her your jacket."

Orius complied and shed his jacket off for the poor naked girl. James took the jacket and wrapped it around her. It was extremely big for her, and you could barely tell there even was someone under the jacket. Just a tiny head could be seen.

"What are you going to do with her?" he asked worriedly.

James laughed and said, "She could be useful to us in the future as part of the criminals. We need more recruits because the last battle with the council cost a few lives. A shape-shifter would be greatly prized, especially when she grows up."

He looked at them in horror and James set the girl down saying, "قمت سؤالك آمنة. اننا يعطيك الغذاء و منزل إلى العيش في. الآن الانتقال إلى هذا الصبى هناك ، واتبع له. اننا نريد التوجه المشي ضئيل وأردت البقاء حق بجانب له."

"What did you say?" said Seth.

The girl went over to him quickly, stumbling over the jacket a little as she did so. "I told her," replied James, "That she would have food and a home if she stayed with us and that she had to follow you for the time being."

Seth looked at the girl as she came over to him and knelt next to her, "I won't hurt you," he said softly, knowing she probably wouldn't understand him.

The girl looked at him confused and only watched him, terrified. Orius rolled his eyes, "Come now, we have much to do today."

Seth stood up and followed Orius and James out into the street. The girl followed him obediently, stumbling every few steps. After about half a mile, he noticed her lagging behind and he quickly picked her up and set him on his shoulders. She wasn't heavy, so it wasn't hard to walk and carry her at the same time.

They walked for about two miles in the dirty alley ways, before they came to an old rotted door. You could tell there used to be some old forgotten symbol carved into the door, but it was so rotted that there was just one faint line left. Orius came up to the door and rapped on it three times. There was a low grumbling from within and the door opened to reveal a black muscular man with dread locks. The man's face quickly changed from grim to happy in a matter of a few milliseconds.

"Ah, Orius, James it's nice to see you again," said the man, "And who are these two behind you?"

Seth let the little girl on his shoulders down, and James answered the man's question, "The boy's my son, Seth. The girl is a shape-shifter we found."

The man smiled, "Your son? He looks a lot like you, handsome, tall, dark. How much do you want for him? I have-."

"He's not for sale," interrupted James dangerously, his hands spread out as if he meant to hurt him.

A brief look of fear came on the man's face and he nodded, "Of course, sorry. Forgive me, you probably came here for the weapons, not for selling."

Orius smiled and shot a look at James, "Yes, may we come in?"

The man nodded and moved out of the doorway. They went into the room and Seth was immediately stunned at what the 'room' looked like. It was dark, but Seth could always see perfectly in the dark. There were many tables that were loaded with all different kinds of weapons. From long bows to machine guns and swords to whips. He had a feeling that most of these things were illegal, but that was probably the point. Each table had its own category of weapons and Seth could only gawk in amazement. James and Orius looked like they visited all the time and went to the table with types of guns he didn't even know existed. On that one table there looked to be a hundred guns and about twenty different types.

James gestured for him to come over to the table and he made sure the girl was behind him before he did so. "What type of gun would be for good for him? I also need a few G28's, 5 calibers."

The man nodded and came next to Seth and studied him. "Hold out your arm," he ordered him. Seth did so and the man ran a hand along it and took his hand, studying that also. "Strong, slim fingers, good. Long arm, for a slimmer weapon, not too heavy," said the man making mental notes, "All in all he needs one of the most expensive guns I have, if you want a gun that fits him perfectly."

"Money does not matter to us," replied Orius, "just give us the right weapon for him."

The man bowed and picked out a gun expertly from the pile. It _was _a slim, sleek weapon and in his opinion, sort of beautiful. It wasn't too long or fat, seemed light, but he could have been wrong. It was made out of dark steel and looked like it could hold about three hundred bullets.

"Here it is, the FV28000. Made it myself just a few months ago and is not to mention one of my most prized weapons. It's gonna cost you."

He held out the gun to Orius and James. James took it and twirled it in his hands expertly and shot it right at a patch of wall that was right next to the man's head. He flinched as the bullet slid right past his ear and hit the wall with a crash. James nodded at the weapon, "Beautiful and perfect. This must have taken a few years to make, Tevain."

The man named Tevain nodded, "More than just a few years actually. Took about fifty, it has been my project for some time."

James nodded and gestured for Seth to come next to him. He obediently did so and he gave him the gun. "Shoot it at me, like you want to, boy."

He felt the cold gun in his hand and it felt good. Light, but firm and he felt it fit perfectly in his hand. He pointed it at James, thinking of how good it would feel if the bullet struck James's heart and killed him then and there. He cocked the gun and heard the reassuring click.

"I wish I could hit you," he said softly.

James smiled, "Shoot boy, you could be lucky."

Seth pointed the gun at James and shot it. It went off with a boom and almost slipped from his fingers from the impact of it coming out. The bullet flew at James, but he barely moved half an inch before the bullet flew past him and into the wall beyond.

James shrugged, "You tried."

Orius looked amused watching this and said to Tevain, "We'll take it; I'm not so stupid to see that that's the gun for him."

Tevain nodded and took the gun from Seth's grasp. "It'll cost you four million, no bargaining."

"Four million!!" Seth said in disbelief, "Hell! I thought ten thousand was big money."

Everyone ignored him and James and Orius started inspecting all the guns, pulling out some and trying them out. Meanwhile, Tevain went to another table and pulled out four big guns. "These are the G28's, is four enough?"

James nodded and pulled out a small gun about a foot and a half in size. "What kind of gun is this? I've never seen it before."

Tevain smiled at this, "It's one of my best poisoning guns. Even if you miss the shot, the poison in the bullet would kill the victim immediately. It shoots round of fifty bullets per second and has a velocity of five hundred. Good gun when you want to kill someone fast. I also have a few torturing guns if you like. I keep them locked up in the back."

James set the poisoning gun to the side, "I'll take this one and yes I'd like to see the torturing guns."

Tevain smiled and disappeared into another door that was 'the back'. Orius, who was looking at what seemed to be a big heavy gun, shot it ten times at one of the cardboard boxes lining the walls. Ten huge booms came from the gun and obliterated the box immediately. Orius smiled and set the gun in the growing pile they wanted to buy.

It was then Tevain came back with the torture guns, to Seth's disgust. There were about five of them, three of them small, the other two normal sized. He looked at the girl and saw she was looking curiously at all the weapons. Glad she wasn't as scared as before he watched James and Orius examine the guns.

"This one interests me," said Orius taking out a small silver torture gun.

Tevain laughed, "Good choice, good choice, and uses the Silencer stone magic to make the victim feel pain. It can cause pain as long as you want the victim to suffer. Uses the chemicals verityouchal and bermoinial to make the victims ability go into a massive melt down. Very good weapon, _especially_ if used on someone very powerful."

Orius nodded, and with Seth barely noticing pointed it at him and pressed the button for the torture magic to come out. It hit Seth full blast in the chest, and he was thrown to the floor screaming like hell. Power, he couldn't control at all, started leaking from his hands and started to destroy things around him. He screamed harder for it felt like his ability was being forced to vomit out of his hands by a wicked cold knife that cut him inside.

"You could have done that outside. Now he's destroying my weapons," complained Tevain.

Orius pressed the button of the gun again and the pain stopped, gratefully. He whimpered and didn't even try to stand, knowing it would hurt like hell if he did. He felt a gentle hand touch him and looked up to see the little girls face looking at him wide eyed. He forced a smile on his face to reassure her he was fine. She didn't look convinced and stayed by him.

"I like this one," said Orius adding it to the pile. James looked disappointed at the other four guns and nodded to Tevain.

"I think we're done here except for some bullets. The best one's you have."

Tevain nodded and bent down to look in a cabinet and pulled out two crates of bullets. "There we go," he said, "Any last minute things?"

"No," said James coldly, walking over to him, while Orius and Tevain figured out the price.

Seth tried to pull himself up, but every part of his body hurt like it had been burned by liquid fire. The girl, seeing James, stepped away from him. James ignored her and took Seth by his hair and pulled him up. He cried out as his body started screaming in pain from the movement.

"Does that hurt, I'm sorry," said James sarcastically, "Does this make it feel better?" He watched as he gently stroked the side of his body. Immediately a cold fire seemed to seep from his hands into him and it hurt so much that he couldn't even cry out.

"Master…..p-please," he managed to choke out.

James looked at him mockingly, "Please what? Make it hurt more? Sure, you know how I love to do that."

"James, please stop playing with him. We still need him to walk," said Orius.

James sighed in disappointment and pulled him to his feet. He stayed about two seconds on his feet before he slumped to the floor. Orius sighed and holding the huge leather bag with all the various guns, went over to him and pressed a hand against his heart. A burst of raw energy flew from Orius's hand into him. He let out a gasp and the terrible pain receded.

"Now get up," said Orius.

He shakily did so, his muscles protesting not to and followed James and Orius out the door. They had been in weapons shop for a couple hours and it was now about 9:00 a.m. It had gotten a lot hotter and he could already feel the sweat beginning to drip down his forehead. He felt bad for the girl with the big heavy jacket on, but it wasn't like she could go naked.

When they had walked a mile in the dirty alley ways, Orius suddenly stopped, and Seth heard the highway not too far from where they were standing.

"تعال هنا," said Orius to the girl. The girl nodded and went over to Orius, who spoke to her quietly in Arabic. A few minutes later the girl turned back into the scrawny tabby cat, while Orius took his jacket from her.

They continued on their way, the tabby following them silently. They soon came to what he guessed was the main part of the city of Riyadh. Cars drove crazily form one place to another, at speeds he thought was illegal. People walked to and fro, all the woman heavily veiled in black with a man by their sides, for that was the law here, the woman always had to be veiled and be with a man.

They were in the part of the city where there rows of restaurants and different shops selling cigarettes, foods and antiques. They went into a little diner named something in Arabic he didn't understand. In the diner, men were smoking Argeelah, which is a kind of flavored tobacco that is smoked with a kind of tube and is burned in a long decorative cylinder. It was a small place with only about five tables, and only three of the them were even filled with people.

Orius gestured toward the waiter who was carrying drinks to one of the tables. The waiter held up his hand for us to wait a moment, and when he was done serving the drinks came over to them. He spoke to Orius in Arabic and then led them to one of tables towards the back.

The waiter suddenly let out a cry at seeing the scrawny cat following them and started kicking at it and yelling at it in Arabic to get out of the restaurant. James, seeing this, let out a sigh and twirled his fingers at the waiter. The waiter immediately stopped his actions to the cat and walked toward James like a good dog. James smiled and told him something in Arabic. The waiter immediately went back to his duties.

Everyone in the room was now staring at them, but James ignored them and picked up the menu. Seth sat down and the cat jumped onto his lap. He stroked it around the ears and it purred in pleasure. He wondered what they were doing here. They had first gotten guns, and now they were in a diner? James and Orius didn't even eat and he doubted that they were just there for him to eat something. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his muscles aching from the torture he had gone through a few minutes before.

"He's not here yet," Orius said in discontentment.

James didn't seem to hear him and was staring at a point on the wall.

"You can kill him once were done talking with him," continued Orius, and seeing that James still wasn't listening, stamped his fist on the table, "James! Look at me."

James stopped staring and seemed surprised by Orius's outburst. "What?"

Orius rolled his eyes, "You weren't listening to a word I was saying, were you?"

"I was thinking," said James coldly.

"Thinking? James, she's gone. Face the truth that you aren't going to see her sweet face again. You saw her die, you got your revenge, now just forget about her and concentrate on what we have to do now. I'm tired of seeing you distracted like this, now it's time you get your head where it is supposed to be!!"

The menu in James's hands suddenly lit on fire and he made no move to put it out, "Shut up! Don't talk to me about this. I know she's gone, but I can think about her when I want. No one can control me anymore, I'm free to think what I want!"

Orius put his hand up, "Okay, fine. We'll talk about this later."

It was then the waiter arrived and he yelled something in Arabic at seeing the menu on fire. James quickly waved his hand over it, and it went out.

The waiter looked at this movement in horror and started shaking from the fear of seeing a person with abilities. He then said something shakily in Arabic and James answered him calmly, with the word coke in it. The waiter quickly left after this and James started to look annoyed.

"He's ten minutes late, I told him to be here early!"

Orius suddenly stood up and his eyes grew wide. It was then the door opened to reveal a man in a black suit with dark sunglasses. He walked over to them rather quickly and pulled out a card from his breast pocket. "United States government. The president requests to speak with the head of the organization called The Society."

James stood up and asked quite calmly, "And what is the reason he comes all the way to Saudi Arabia for this visit?"

"The president will converse about it right outside. Now if you please, sir," said the security person, gesturing toward the door, "The president also requires the friends you have with you."

Seth half expected James to blow up the security person then and there, but he surprising didn't. What was the reason for their visit anyway? And why come all the way from the U.S. to do so?

James nodded to him and Orius for them to follow him and they left the diner. Outside there was a heavily armed black Mercedes that he guessed the president was brought in with many other heavily armored cars by it. Security guards were everywhere and Seth saw, what he guessed was the president. He didn't know who the president was now and couldn't see his face because of the large black sunglasses. He was wearing a black suit, like all official people do and was looking at James grimly.

"Mr. President," said James formally.

The president nodded, "You're the leader of the Society, I believe, sir."

"Yes, Mr. President. I believe you were elected not too long ago and this is your second day on the job?" said James.

The president nodded, "Yes, but you must know my motive for being here. You see many people are suspicious that you have abilities. My job is for the people, so I require your assistance in this matter. All we call for is an undemanding assessment to make definite that you don't contain an ability."

"Mr. President, I assure you, that I have no such thing, but if you insist on the matter. Then of course," said James smoothly, "As you know, my most recent activities with The Society has stopped because President Michael Dawson has talked with me about making a law of it being illegal to sell them as slaves or experiment on them."

"Of course," said the president composedly, "We are aware of this. But a few people with abilities have complained about you and said you should be obliged to go to prison for what you have done to them. The assessment should only take a few days and if you're blameless we won't trouble you again."

James then smiled coldly, "You don't fool me, leader. None of you council people do."

All the security people let out chuckles at this and 'the president' took off his sunglasses to reveal the face of the leader.

"Well James it's certainly nice to see you again and you Orius," said the leader and then stared at him, "Well Seth, you've changed a little, haven't you? Now that we're all together and you're obviously outnumbered, how about you just surrender now and then this won't be just a useless fight."

Seth felt a sudden hatred for him, but he basically hated everyone that was there. He should have known that wasn't the real president. "It won't be a useless fight," said Orius, reaching for something that was in his pocket.

The leader raised an eyebrow, "I didn't know someone as old as you Orius would be stupid enough to actually fight against all of us."

James let out a nasty smile, and spread out his hands and power exploded from them at the leader. The leader quickly put a shield around him and all the council warriors let out their abilities at them.

"Kill James and Orius," yelled the leader, "But keep the boy alive."

He watched as James and Orius quickly put up shields and then reach into the big leather bag with all the guns they had just bought. James pulled out the poisoning gun, while Orius pulled out the big gun that had destroyed the cardboard boxes in a few blasts. They then started shooting at the council people.

He heard bullets whizz in the air and flashes of light all around him. It was obvious who was winning, but James and Orius looked so fierce fighting that it seemed like they were fifty people instead of just one. Every bullet that they shot would have hit its target if someone didn't put up a shield. Seth looked at his gun and felt a sudden urge to join the fighting or kill James then and there. But a warning in the back of his mind told him not to do that and he remembered he might not see Jessie again if he did. He looked at the way James and Orius shot their bullets and it was then he knew what to do.

He went to the leather bag and pulled out his gun. Once again it felt right in his hands like an extension of his arm. He took a deep breath and then…… sprinted towards the leader, dodging bullets and blasts as he did so. No one noticed him, too engaged in the fighting to do so, as he snuck up behind the leader and pressed the tip of his gun into his head. The leader stiffened at this movement and Seth felt a smile light his face.

He then yelled, "Stop!! Or the leader dies!"

Everyone looked confused at who said this, and then looked in his direction and to his surprise, the fighting stopped. Orius and James looked grateful at this, but still had their guns up and pointed at the council people.

The leader smiled, "You would make a great leader."

"Shut up," he hissed at him, pressing the gun harder into his head, "So Jessie's your daughter, huh. So you changed the laws so she wouldn't have to rule. You think her an utter weakling, but she's not!"

"Ah, so you're in love, aren't you Seth?" said the leader calmly.

He cocked the gun and heard the reassuring click, "I thought I told you to be quiet! You think you can escape from me longer than I can shoot this gun? You gave me my copycat ability back and I've seen the way James shoots that gun, so don't even try."

The leader didn't move a muscle and Seth continued, "I want you to tell your warrior friends to disappear and leave. I don't want to kill anyone, but I will if I have to. So _leave_."

"Is that all you want, Seth," said the leader calmly.

He jabbed the gun even harder in his skull, "Do it."

The leader nodded and he watched as he communicated to them all in their minds to teleport back to the council building. He watched as one by one they all disappeared. The last one to leave was the leader himself who said before he went, "I can't wait to see you again Seth. It's too bad that you're in love though. I hoped it wouldn't have to come to that." He then disappeared and he was left holding his gun to empty air. He slowly let it down to see James and Orius looking at him in approval.

"Well done, Seth, well done," said Orius.

"Yes…." said James before a look of pain crossed his features and he slumped to the floor.

Seth was surprised, was James actually wounded? It was then he saw a dark stain spreading across the front of his shirt. Orius seemed to notice this too and quickly took hold of James's body. James scowled, "Let go of me! I'm fine…..it's just a bullet."

Orius looked even more concerned, if someone like that could be and nodded for Seth to come over. "James," said Orius sternly, "It went through your chest and we don't know what kind of bullet it might be. Who shot you? Was it the leader?"

Seth went over to them and watched as Orius ripped off James's shirt. James let out an intake of breath and Seth saw his lean body covered in crimson blood. Orius, seeing this, ripped off a piece of his shirt and gently rubbed away all the blood around the wound. You could see James clenching his teeth from crying out and Orius was shaking his head in horror.

"We need to get you to a healer, immediately. It a poison bullet, you should be dead already."

James let out a terrible laugh, "Poison bullet? Should have known…..the leader would try something like..that. Don't worry I can…..stand."

Seth felt hope come through him, maybe James was going to die. "How long does he have?" he asked hopefully.

Orius, still busy at keeping James down, didn't notice his expression. "Considering he should be dead already, he doesn't have much time at all."

James then stood up slowly, and his face paled, but he didn't collapse. "Good…then maybe I'll-," he stopped and would have slid to the ground if Orius didn't help him.

"Get….off of ….me," he said weakly.

Orius rolled his eyes, "Seth, take that cat and hold on to me. I'm going to teleport."

Disappointment came through him, if they were going to teleport there would be a better chance of him surviving. He decided to move slowly and look for the cat; she was nowhere to be found. He shrugged and Orius looked annoyed, "Hurry up boy, this isn't just a walk in the park and if James dies there's a pretty good chance you won't see Jessie again."

With those words Seth quickly let Orius take his hand and he immediately felt like he was going through utter blackness and couldn't breathe. He hated this feeling and was glad when it was soon over and they appeared before the building of the criminals.

James looked about ready to pass out and Orius held his hand over his heart, transferring energy into James. He seemed to get a little better, but not much and the skin around the bullet was beginning to turn a weird black color, sort of like you could see the poison spreading through the skin. James let out a soft moan and slumped against Orius. Orius, his face showing signs of major worry, quickly dragged him to the door and knocked. The door was quickly opened by Mike and he looked utterly stunned at seeing James.

"What-," he started to say.

But Orius shoved his way through quickly, nearly knocking him over. Mike watched them go for a second before he looked at him, is brows furrowed in confusion. "You better tell me how the hell James got hurt or you'll find yourself being beaten to a bloody pulp."

Seth nodded slowly; feeling slightly tired and told him everything. When he was done, Mike looked troubled and glared at him, "Follow me," he said coldly.

Seth did as he was told and followed the gigantic muscular guy into the building. He saw no one as he passed through the dark halls and he couldn't help but wish he would catch a glimpse of Jessie. They eventually came to his room, where Mike shoved him in.

"If James dies, consider you dead," was all he said before he slammed and bolted the door. Seth closed his eyes and shuddered. He had completely transformed today, it was like someone else had taken over him and made him do what he had done. But he knew in his heart that it was all him. He had done everything back there and it felt…..good. To actually be in control, something in his blood had stirred with pleasure. He shuddered again, no he couldn't turn like James, he couldn't.

He sighed and lay down on his bed, the old bed springs creaking like that of an old woman. He felt a sudden wave of exhaustion and wanted more than anything to sleep for a few days with no disturbance, but that was as likely to happen as he was going to go back to his old life. He found himself sinking into sleep, not even the worry in his mind could stop it.

Three days passed of boredom.

He had quickly finished the last of the five books and found himself reading them over and over again, which was really boring because he was a copycat and had already memorized them from the first time he had read them.

Still, no one came, and he began wondering if James was really dead. No food was given to him, and he felt the usual pangs of hunger. Then in the afternoon of the third day the door opened to reveal Jessie. After what seemed like a lifetime of days without seeing her, he couldn't help but take in how breathtakingly beautiful she was. Today her dark red hair was tied up into a high ponytail and she was wearing dark skinny jeans, with a pink tank top. She looked thinner and there were dark circles under her eyes. She smiled and quickly ran toward him and hugged him tightly. He did so also and stood there for a few minutes without speaking, before they pulled apart.

"Oh, god Seth! It's so good to see you," she said brimming with joy.

He couldn't help but smile, "Jessie," was all he could murmur before he kissed her gently, cupping her head in his hand. They broke apart and she snuggled into his shoulder.

"I heard what happened," she said softly.

He stroked her hair, those words spoiling the whole moment. "Is….he……" he stopped and she shook her head.

"James is alive, he's just been…..really busy."

"Busy with what?" he asked bitterly, disappointed that he wasn't dead.

Jessie noticed his change of emotion and pulled away from him, "I can sense your want to kill him so bad. This hatred you have for him. Seth……he's getting to you, don't let this hatred blind you from who you truly are. He's distracting you into thinking that you are a killer, don't let him do that……I know you."

He looked at his hands and nodded, "I know, but Jess. Sometimes I…..can feel it in my blood…..the need to…..kill……to hurt. I want this power and to tell you the truth it's scaring me. Jessie, what am I turning into?"

He looked up to see Jessie staring at him warmly, "Don't let it. That is your ability talking; listen to what your hearts saying. I can see what you want, but I see something deeper."

He looked into Jessie's glimmering blue eyes, they seemed to shine like a hidden light of goodness. "Thank you," he said before they kissed.

There lips seemed to move like one and he couldn't help but pull her closer to his body, feeling her speeding heart and warmth. She let out a moan, before she broke apart. He sighed, breathless, slightly frustrated that it ended too soon.

She smiled at his want for more and stroked the side of his cheek, "We don't want to go too far."

He nodded sadly and stood up, "I know…..it's just good to feel something nice after being so long in this pain…..this torture. I want you more than ever. You're the only one-," he suddenly gasped as a wave of pain swept inside of him.

Jessie immediately looked worried, "Seth? Are you alright?"

He wanted to nod and say he was, but another wave of pain sliced through him. He let out a moan and slid to the floor. Jessie quickly knelt by him and supported his upper body against hers. "What hurts?"

"I'm fi-," he tried to say before what felt like someone was ripping through his insides. He couldn't help but let out a cry of agony. Jessie still held onto him tightly, worry creasing her face.

"Seth…..listen to me. What's wrong?"

He let out another cry and began shaking uncontrollably. "I don't kno-," he gasped as the pain began pounding through his whole body. He then started convulsing and Jessie was forced to let him slide from her arms.

Her face was full of fear and she looked completely confused of what to do. The pain soon became so agonizing that he couldn't focus on anything and could only scream. "HELP!" Jessie yelled pleadingly, "SOMEBODY!!!! HELP!"

He could say nothing and only writhed on the ground. Jessie kept screaming and he saw out of the corner of his eyes, the door open. In came James, followed quickly by Helen. He saw them both smile at his pain, but he felt no feelings of hatred, the pain was too much.

"Relax Jessie," he barely heard James say, "He's changing. It's normal for someone as powerful as him. It'll pass in a day or if you're lucky two. Depends on how much his body wants to change."

Seth let out another scream, and wanted more than anything for the pain or the changing or whatever it was, to stop. His last change wasn't at all like this. He felt a soft hand stroke his hair and new that it was Helen. "It's not fun, is it Seth? I hated that when I was young. But just think when it's over, you'll be handsomer, stronger and faster."

He wanted to spit in her face, but that was a little impossible right then.

"Helen," said James, "Please take Jessie away from here. I'm going to talk to Seth alone for a little bit."

"NO!" he heard Jessie scream, "I don't want to leave him. He's in pain and the last thing he needs right now is sickening, hateful, evil, torturing demon like you! You can't do this!"

"Helen," said James calmly.

"Come Jessie, let father talk to son," said Helen.

He heard Jessie say a few swears as she was forced out the door and then it was complete silence except for his few cries of pain. "You happy I'm alive," said James.

He moaned and couldn't answer, clenching his teeth to keep from screaming. "I bet you are. I've been a little busy…..the leader, by the way, is very intent about getting you. A few of his warriors have visited a couple of times. They're dead, of course. I'm just letting you know we're going to fight them in a couple of weeks and we're going to hit them hard. We also decided to capture those last remaining SATS kids. And when this war is over, hopefully things will go on as we planned."

Seth forced himself to unclench his teeth and say, "What…..was even the….point of The….Society?"

James smiled and knelt next to him, "Normal people are such idiots," he whispered in his ear, "The Society was a diversion, a distraction for what we were really doing. All those weakling ability people I captured were for the pleasure of the normal people. But I'm going to tell you a little secret, The Society is still going on, even now and…..you might be delighted to know that Mathew is still alive. I thought I killed that damn mongrel, but it seems……," James stopped, a look of sudden anger on his face, "He's merely a distraction, SATS is gone."

Seth moaned and then a sudden burst of pure pain swept through him and he screamed in agony, but that pain did not stop and was too much for him to listen to James anymore and all he felt was the pain. It lasted, what seemed to be forever and all he wanted was for it to stop.

Hours later the pain began to dull and he faded into unconsciousness.

Chapter 36

Seth woke up to the worst headache in his life. It felt like his brain had exploded. He moaned and noticed he had been moved to his bed. He was completely naked, but luckily the sheets covered him. He tried to sit up, but that movement made his brain seem like it was on fire. He gasped and lay back down.

"I see you're finally awake," said a smooth voice.

He looked in the direction of the voice and saw James. His shirt was black, like usual, with loose jeans. His hair actually looked neat, but there were black circles under his eyes.

"How long have I been out," he said weakly, his brain throbbing even as he talked.

"Four days," responded James, "You should have seen yourself then. The clothes on you were nearly burnt away and you looked like complete crap. Now…..you should look in the mirror, Seth. But I see something still pains you, headache?"

"Have you been here the whole four days?" he said, ignoring James's question.

James looked at him thoughtfully and stood up, "One thing about changing is you need someone older to be next to you, just in case something goes wrong."

He was next to him now, and gasped as he laid his hand on his head. A painful sensation went through it, and then the headache was gone. Apparently James could heal also. Well that was just great.

"You should have seen Jessie," said James amused, "Crying for you, she can be tough when she wants, but her ability is rather useless. She is pretty though, I'll give you credit for that."

Seth sat up, now that the headache was gone and glared at him, "Shut up, you act like…..like she's some kind of animal! Just stop it."

James raised an eyebrow and took something from the bedside table. "Normally I would torture you for talking back to your master. But……I think seeing yourself is torture enough. Do you want to see what the change did to you?"

Seth clenched his teeth in anger as James gave him a little circular mirror. He reluctantly looked at it and almost immediately dropped it in horror. James began laughing at this and picked it up, showing it straight at his face. His face looked…….too beautiful. His hair was now thicker and more luscious, his eyes were so green that they seemed to glow; his skin was as smooth as a baby's. He lifted the sheet off his body and was stunned to see more muscle and no scars to be seen. He looked at the muscle on his arms and abs thinking how any normal man would be jealous of them. He also noticed he had gotten taller, the bed now seemed shorter. Shock came through him.

Why, he thought, did this have to happen to him? Any other boy or man would have loved this body. Him? No, this was his worst nightmare; he was almost perfect now, far from normal. What would Jessie think of him?

"Beautiful, aren't you Seth. Wait till Helen has a look at you," said James.

He could say nothing and he felt something thrown at him. He jolted, "Get dressed," said James, "So we can show you off."

He numbly looked at the clothes and saw the usual jeans and a nice blue polo. He slowly put on the clothes, expecting to feel slight stings from the scrapes and bruises, but felt nothing.

"Come now boy," said James impatiently, "We don't want to be late for out little meeting."

He bit his lip from saying something and nodded. James then led him out the door and into the hallway. It was weird feeling nothing hurt, he expected something to ache or at least throb. It actually felt sort of good.

James led him into the dining hall where there were a few people. They all seemed to be huddled together at one table. He saw Orius was with them as well as Helen, Mike and…….Jessie. She looked even more beautiful since the last time he had seen her with her long red hair hanging loose on her shoulders and her face as innocent and as lovely as an angel. She looked up at him with her gorgeous blue eyes in surprise. She just stood there, staring at him as if he was some sort of creature. He suddenly felt hurt, was that what he was now, a creature?

"God James! He's……perfect," said Helen, standing up. She was wearing a short pink mini dress and long gold dangling earrings. Her face was heavy with makeup (not that she needed it) and her hair was curled. She looked more like a supermodel than a criminal, but it was Helen.

"You look like a bitch today, don't you Helen," he couldn't help but say.

Helen looked extremely angry at him, but it was James who kicked him. He fell to the floor by the force of it and James kept his foot on his back. "If you don't start acting nice, boy, I think I just might do something worse then make you kill people. You understand?"

He shivered and managed to nod.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that," said James scornfully.

"Yes…..master," he said obediently.

"That's better," said James taking his foot off his back.

He slowly got to his feet to see everyone crowded around him, looking at him as if he was a juicy piece of meat just ready to eat. One of them, a man stepped out of the crowd. He was a little on the chubby side with a large head and rather thick shoulders. "I've never seen a change like this in a long time. He must be very powerful."

James raised an eyebrow at the man, "I always knew you were on the dumb side, but I don't like my warriors going fat. That is a disgrace."

The man turned purple, but it was Orius who spoke, "Your warriors James? Why…. I didn't know they were yours?"

James's face paled and he bowed low to him, "I'm sorry, Orius, forgive me, my words got ahead of me," James said meekly

Orius looked at him severely and pulled his gun from his belt, pointing it at James. He looked at him for a second, before he shot the gun in the opposite direction. The bullet hit the chubby man in the chest.

f


End file.
